Tokyo Games bronze-winner Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics, beating Poland's Lukasz Ciszek in a lop-sided final on Wednesday. (Full Coverage | More Sports News)
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.
Who Is Harvinder Singh?
Harvinder was born on February 25, 1991 and hails from a family of farmers from Ajit Nagar in Haryana.
He faced adversity at a young age, when he was just one and a half years old, he contracted dengue and required injections for treatment.
Unfortunately, the side effects of those injections led to the loss of function in his legs. Despite this setback, he discovered a passion for archery while watching the London Paralympics in 2012.
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.
(With PTI inputs)
