Harvinder Singh scripted history by becoming the first Indian archer to clinch a gold at the Paralympics, after World champion shot-putter Sachin Sarjerao Khilari’s record-shattering silver-winning effort, as the country’s athletes continued to surpass expectations in its best ever performance at the Games here.
The 33-year-old Harvinder, who became the first Indian to win an archery medal at the Games with a bronze three years ago in Tokyo, bettered the colour of his medal with a superlative performance of five consecutive wins.
He defeated Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in a one-sided final to script history for himself and the country. Harvinder had earlier overturned a 1-3 deficit to prevail over Iran’s Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri 7-3.
Both legs of the Haryana-archer were impaired while he was still a toddler owing to a dengue treatment adversely affecting him.
Earlier, the 34-year-old Sachin pulled off a 16.32m throw in his second attempt of the F46 category final to better his own Asian record of 16.30m which he set in May while winning gold in the World Para-Athletics Championships in Japan.
Their performance took India’s medal haul to 22 and the nation is currently placed 15th in the overall standings with four gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals.
Greg Stewart of Canada defended his Tokyo Paralympics gold with a throw of 16.38m, while Luka Bakovic of Croatia took the bronze with 16.27m.
Sachin’s silver was also India’s 11th medal from track-and-field, the Tokyo haul of one gold, five silver and two bronze medals long overhauled.
Late on Tuesday (September 3, 2024) night, Indians won silver and bronze in both men’s high jump T63 and javelin throw F46.
Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in the high jump event while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar took the second and third sports in the javelin contest.
Published - September 04, 2024 06:30 pm IST
