Harvinder Singh stayed calm and focused becoming India’s first Paralympic medalist in archery. The 33-year-old who is also working on a PhD in Economics lost to Kevin Mather from the USA in the Tokyo Paralympics semi-finals but came back strong to win a bronze.
Harvinder won five matches in a row in one day without showing any tiredness or nerves. In the final he shot three 10s in his last four arrows, defeating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 and earning India its second archery medal at the Paralympics.
Archer Harvinder Singh wins gold at the Paralympics
Tokyo Games bronze medalist Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics beating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0. The 33-year-old who also lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo semifinals showed his skills by winning five matches in one day. Despite his legs being impaired from dengue treatment as a child, he stayed strong and focused.
In other news, shot-putter Sachin Sarjerao Khilari set a new Asian record with a 16.32m throw winning silver and boosting India’s medal count. India now has 22 medals including four gold eight silver and ten bronze.
On Tuesday Indian athletes won silver and bronze in men’s high jump T63 and javelin throw F46, and Deepthi Jeevanji took bronze in the women’s 400m T20 marking India’s best performance at the Games.
Meet Harvinder Singh: PhD holder and India’s first Paralympic gold-winning archer
Singh won the final set 29-25 securing India’s fourth gold at the games and achieving a huge milestone for the country.
Harvinder made history at the Paris Paralympics by becoming the first Indian Paralympian archer to win gold. He beat Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in the Men’s Individual Recurve Open final. Singh secured India’s fourth gold with a 29-25 win in the final set marking a huge achievement for the country.
How Harvinder Singh overcame weakness in his left leg to win a gold medal at the Paralympics and earn a PhD
A wrong medication impaired Harvinder left leg but he overcame the challenge to win gold in recurve archery at the Paralympics and earn a PhD.
In 1992, farmer Paramjeet Singh took his 18-month-old son Harvinder to a clinic where a wrong injection impaired Harvinder left leg. Nearly thirty years later Harvinder’s gold medal win in the men’s recurve open at the Paris Paralympics, where he beat Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 helped heal those old wounds for his family.
Harvinder spent most of his time indoors because of his impairment focusing on his studies and completing a PhD in labor reforms. Initially he was only interested in doing well in school. His interest in archery started with the scoring system and grew after watching the 2012 London Olympics.
He joined Punjabi University in Patiala met coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja and trained with coach Gaurav Sharma. After starting with compound archery he switched to recurve in 2015. Coach Teja recalls that Harvinder was good at compound archery but the switch to recurve required adjusting his posture and balance due to the weight on his left leg. They focused on using his right leg to bear the load.
One Arrow at a Time: The Rise of Paralympic Champion Harvinder Singh
PARIS: Harvinder knows how to handle challenges, both in archery and in life. The 33-year-old from Haryana made history by becoming India’s first Paralympic gold-winning archer. His legs were impaired by a wrong dengue treatment when he was just one year old but instead of feeling sorry for himself Harvinder chose to rise above his situation and achieve greatness.
Harvinder journey to Paralympic glory started three years ago in Tokyo when he won a bronze becoming the first Indian archer to reach the podium at the Games.
On Wednesday, Harvinder singh stayed calm and strong winning five matches in a row to claim his second straight Paralympic medal in the recurve open category improving greatly from his last performance.
Harvinder achievements are firsts in Indian archery. When he’s not winning medals he works on his Ph.D. in economics.
Harvinder singh said, “I practiced well in the last few months, shooting better than the world record in qualifications. When I finished ninth in the ranking round my confidence dropped a bit. But I stayed focused on the matches because anything could happen,” according to ‘World Archery’.
Three years ago in Tokyo Harvinder from Ajitnagar in Kaithal district Haryana, didn’t win gold. He said his teammates helped him believe he could aim for the top podium finish.
Harvinder said, “In Tokyo, I won bronze, so I’m happy to have changed the color of my medal. Before the Paris Games, everyone said I had a chance to win gold and I’m glad I did,” he said. He comes from a farming family.
Harvinder singh steady performance and calm attitude helped him lose no more than three points in each match. He got interested in archery after watching the London Olympics on TV and said he felt “blessed.”