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.
#BRONZE for Harvinder Singh! 🔥
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) September 3, 2021
#IND's first ever medal in #ParaArchery - A thrilling shoot-off win against #KOR's Kim Min Su scripts history! 🏹
The third medal of the day for the nation. 💪#Tokyo2020 #Paralympics @ArcherHarvinder pic.twitter.com/dwWTh2ViZN
Harvinder Singh you hero!!! Congratulations!!! Bronze medal at #PARALYMPICS #ParaArchery with a 10 in a shoot off vs a Korean. Feels so sweet. First ever Indian to win an archery medal - Olympics or Paralympics 🇮🇳
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) September 3, 2021
And it keeps pouring in ! Congratulations Harvinder Singh 👏🏾 https://t.co/yutzX3hjAc
— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) September 3, 2021
Koreans are strong in Archery until they meet Harvinder ji! Singh is King! https://t.co/r0d24LFbou
— Samrat Rakshit (@Sammy58328) September 3, 2021
Winning against a Korean archer in a medal round is special noh 😌
— Hari Priya CR (@cr_hariPriya) September 3, 2021
India's first-ever archery medal 🥉 of the #Paralympics & the overall medal tally at Tokyo goes up to 13 🔥#HarvinderSingh #Tokyoparalympics2020
India’s first ever medal in Archery at the Olympics/Paralympics! What a performance it’s been!Congratulations to @ArcherHarvinder on bringing home the #Bronze Medal!Also takes our overall medal tally to 13 👏🏽🇮🇳 #Praise4Para@narendramodi @ianuragthakur @ParalympicIndia @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/WXVWF5jfvk
— Deepa Malik (@DeepaAthlete) September 3, 2021
“Mehnat itni khamoshi se karo ki safalta shor macha de” #IND #Bronze medallist Harvinder Singh targeted #Tokyo2020 from his farm Ajitnagar Haryana after COVID-19 put his training schedule in disarray. @ddsportschannel pic.twitter.com/QytAVMroOP
— Karamdeep (@oyeekd) September 3, 2021
thank you India 🇮🇳
— Harvinder Singh (@ArcherHarvinder) September 3, 2021
#Archery
— Prithvi (@Eighty7_Fifty8) September 3, 2021
INDIA'S FIRST EVERY ARCHERY MEDAL AT PARALYMPICS (ALSO OLYMPICS)
Harvinder Singh,you beauty 🤩🤩
Wins the shootoff with a perfect 10!!
You may have won a Bronze,but your name will be inked in gold in the history of Indian Archery 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/4eNmRW9LcO
Rain is not kind today in Tokyo
— Manasi G. Joshi (@joshimanasi11) September 3, 2021
Harvinder now fighting for Bronze after losing the last set. But what an interesting spirit of sport we got to witness today @ArcherHarvinder pic.twitter.com/SSxMYd1DlC
Congratulations Harvinder Singh for making our country proud 🇮🇳🙏🏻
— Abhishek Verma (@abhishek_70007) September 3, 2021