Harvinder Singh won India’s first ever Paralympic archery medal on Friday and made history. He won bronze medal beating South Korea’s Kin Min Su 6-5 in a shootout at the Yumenoshima Final Field.
World No.23 Singh was the first athlete from India to win a gold medal at a major para competition in the 2018 Asian Games.
Harvinder is the third medal winner for India on Friday after Praveen Kumar and Avani Lekhara. India is currently placed 37th on the medals tally with 2 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.
In the bronze playoff, the 31-year-old was leading 5-3 before the Kroean clinched the fifth set shooting a perfect 10 to force a shoot-off where the Indian responded in style shooting a perfect 10 against Kim’s 8 for a 6-5 (26-24, 27-29, 28-25, 25-25, 26-27) (10-8) win.
In the semifinals, Singh lost to world number 10 Kevin Mather of the USA 6-4 in an intense five-setter (25-28, 24-24, 25-25, 25-24, 24-26).
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Singh for winning the bronze medal. In a tweet, he said: “”Outstanding performance by @ArcherHarvinder. He displayed great skill and determination, resulting in his medal victory. Congratulations to him for winning a historic Bronze medal. Proud of him. Wishing him the very best for the times ahead. #Paralympics #Praise4Para”
Olympic Gold Medallist Abhinav Bindra also congratulated Singh for registering his name in the history books. Taking to Twitter, Bindra wrote: “Another first for India, this time in Archery as @ArcherHarvinder bags the Bronze medal in men’s individual recurve at the #Tokyo2020 Paralympics. Many congratulations on the historic feat! #Praise4Para.”
(For more updates stay tuned with DNP India)
