Harvinder Singh makes history again, becomes India’s first gold medallist in archery at either Games

Harvinder Singh became India’s first either Olympic or Paralympic Archery Champion in the Invalides arena this Wednesday.

The 33-year-old showed a stellar performance en route to gold in the recurve men’s individual competition at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

“It feels fantastic,” he said after the medal ceremony. “I’m just blessed to achieve this gold [medal] for India.”

Singh beat Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek in straight sets in the final.

The Indian reached a first milestone three years ago in Tokyo 2020, when he won Paralympic bronze, India’s premiere medal in archery at either Games.

In Paris, he turned bronze into gold.

“Yes, in Tokyo I won bronze, so I’m happy I could change the colour of my medal,” said Singh. “Before the Games, everybody told me I had a chance to reach gold, and I’m happy I was able to.”

The 33-year-old showed remarkable consistency throughout the day, dropping no more than three points in each of his four matches.

“I focused on every arrow. Only the next arrow counts,” he said.

Qualifying a week earlier did not exactly go his way, though. The Indian seeded ninth, which somewhat dampened expectations.

“In the last few months, I was shooting very well in practice, more than the world record in qualification,” Harvinder explained. “Here, I finished ninth, and my confidence went a little bit down.”

“Anyway, I focused on the matches because anything could happen.”

He took it as his chance.

“Archery is a game of unexpected. Everything can happen.”

This state of mind became his strength and translated into excellence on the shooting line.

“I was just focusing on my next match. Only that way, I could move to the next round, and one by one, I moved to the final. And eventually won gold.”

Regardless of the circumstances, he aimed to shoot well with his last arrow to build confidence and basis for the next set or match.

“If you have confidence, you can learn the arrow,” Singh would explain. “Sometimes it can slip to nine, but you always have to finish with a ten, because it’s your last arrow.”

Indeed, in most matches Singh landed his last arrow into the 10-ring.

In the gold medal match, the new Paralympic Archery Champion just flew, scoring 28, 28 and 29 to close it in straight sets.

“I just thought: ‘I have done it for India!’” Singh said.

“I was also thinking about my mother before my matches and after winning gold,” he added.

Singh’s mother died in 2018 just when the Asian Para Games were about to begin in Indonesia.

“I could imagine how happy she would be if she could have been here. When I reach medals, she is always on my mind.”

With silver, the 44-year-old Pole, Ciszek, claimed his first Paralympic medal in only his second Games.

Bronze went to Iran’s Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri, who defeated Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith in straight sets, too.

The competition in Paris concludes on Thursday with recurve mixed teams’ elimination and medal matches.