Harvinder advances to pre-quarters in quest for second Paralympics medal

PARIS: Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Harvinder Singh outclassed Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei 7-3 to make the men's recurve open pre-quarterfinals in archery competition of the ongoing Paris Games on Wednesday.

Harvinder, the only Paralympics medal-winning Indian archer, drew the first set 25-25, before he shot one 10 and 9 to win the second 27-26 and take 3-1 lead.

Lung-Hui dished out a near perfect third set when he dropped just one point to win it 29-26 and bring the scores level at 3-3.

But Lung-Hui faltered in the next two sets as Harvinder held his nerves to win 24-23 and 25-17 and seal his last-16 berth.

In recurve open class, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m at a 122cm target made up of 10 concentric circles, scoring from 10 points down to 1 point from the centre outwards.

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.