In the latest addition to India's list of heartbreaking misses at the 2024 Paralympics and Olympics, top-ranked para archer Rakesh Kumar lost out on the bronze medal by a solitary point in Paris on Sunday (September 1). Rakesh went down 116-117 to defending champion He Zihao of China in the men's compound open third-place play-off. (Full Coverage | More Sports News)
The 39-year-old world number one from Jammu had a one-point lead with six arrows to go. But Rakesh dropped two points in the penultimate end, as the Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist Zihao took charge, scoring six consecutive 10s, with three of them closer to the bulls-eye, to emerge as the winner.
And thus, India continued to be medal-less in archery at the 2024 Summer Games - Olympics as well as Paralympics. Harvinder Singh had bagged India's only medal in Paralympics archery, a bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Earlier, Rakesh failed to bring out his A-game in the semi-final against familiar foe Ai Xinliang of China, to lose by two points. As in the quarter-finals, Rakesh had a slow start and trailed by three points with six arrows to go.
He fought hard and dropped just two points in the last two ends, but it was not enough as Xinliang closed out the match 145-143 to secure his third straight win against the Indian. The Chinese had defeated Rakesh by an identical scoreline in the Tokyo Paralympics quarter-finals, bringing the latter's campaign to an end.
The near-miss in Paris, however, follows a thrilling campaign from Rakesh to get into medal contention. The Indian, who is wheelchair-bound since 2009 after suffering a spinal cord injury, narrowly prevailed over world No. 2 Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia 144-144 (10-8 in the shoot-off) to make the Paris 2024 quarter-finals.
He returned to the shooting line within two hours and showed amazing composure to outshoot Canada’s Kyle Tremblay in a pulsating shoot-off, with the scores reading 144-144 (10*-10).
The shoot-off was a tense affair, with the Canadian finding the 10-ring to put the pressure on Rakesh. But the numero uno archer took a deep breath, stayed composed, and landed his arrow just 3mm closer to the centre.
In comparison, Ken’s arrow was 29.55mm from the bullseye, handing Rakesh victory by the barest of margins.
A sports psychologist and dietician, Rakesh had won gold medal in the individual and mixed team events of the Asian Para Championships last year. He also won the mixed team gold medal at the World Para Championships.
After suffering a spinal cord injury in 2009, Rakesh realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life. The setback plunged him into depression and the para athlete even contemplated taking the extreme step.
But his life took a fresh turn once he met his archery coach Kuldeep Vedwan, as the duo began their stint at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra.
(With PTI inputs)
