Harvinder Singh claimed India’s first ever archery medal in the Paralympics, holding his nerve to beat Korea’s Kim Min Su in a thrilling shoot-off for the men’s individual recurve open bronze at Tokyo 2020 on Friday. It was his third shoot-off of the day.
In the bronze playoff, the 31-year-old was leading 5-3 before the Korean clinched the fifth set shooting a perfect 10 to force a shoot-off. But the Indian responded in style shooting a perfect 10 against Kim’s 8 for a 6-5 (26-24, 27-29, 28-25, 25-25, 26-27) (10-8) win.
India at Tokyo Paralympics, day 10 live updates
In the semifinals, Singh had lost to world number 10 Kevin Mather of the USA 6-4 in an intense five-setter but he ensures that he came home with a medal with a gritty win.
Singh, who hails from a small village Guhla Cheeka near Kaithal in Haryana, was stretched to the fullest in the first two rounds, but he showed tremendous resilience to overcome his fancied opponents via shoot-offs.
He picked the sport after watching archery matches on TV at the London Olympics and nine years later, had a medal of his own.
Here are some of the best reactions to his medal.
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