Harvinder Singh scripts history, becomes first Indian archer to win Paralympic gold

Tokyo Games bronze-winner Harvinder Singh became the first Indian Paralympian archer to clinch gold after beating Lukasz Ciszek of Poland 6-0 in the Men's Individual Recurve Open final at the Paris Paralympics on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo Paralympics semifinals before securing a bronze three years ago, put up a dominant show to knock out Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25).

Harvinder, who is pursuing Ph.D in Economics, won five back-to-back matches in a single day, showing neither fatigue nor nerves to etch his name in history and clinch India's second medal in archery here.


Harvinder Singh's inspiring journey:

Hailing from a farmer's family from Ajit Nagar in Haryana, Harvinder faced significant adversity early in life.

When he was just one and a half years old, he contracted dengue and received injections for treatment. Unfortunately, the side effects of these injections resulted in a loss of function in his legs.

Despite this early challenge, he found a passion for archery after getting inspiration from 2012 London Paralympics.

He made his debut at the 2017 Para Archery World Championship, finishing seventh.

A gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games followed, and during the COVID-19 lockdown, his father turned their farm into an archery range to support his training.

Harvinder made history by winning India's first-ever archery medal -- a bronze -- at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.

Alongside his sporting success, he is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in economics.