Three years after winning India’s first Paralympic archery medal, Harvinder Singh made more history by earning the country’s first gold in the sport. After the scoreboard showed that he won the final of the men’s individual recurve open competition, he took a deep breath and let the victory sink in.
“The thing that was in my mind was, ‘I have done it for India’ because at the last Paralympics, I just won bronze. I had to change the colour and perform well, and these are the things that I have done,” Singh said.
Indian track and field para-athletes continued to flourish at Stade de France in the ongoing Paris Paralympics. Dharambir and Pranav Soorma completed a historic one-two in the men’s club throw F51 category by winning gold and silver, respectively, in the final.
Dharambir won India’s second gold in athletics and fifth overall, matching their haul in the Tokyo Games three years ago, with a throw of 34.92 metres in his fifth attempt. The 35-year-old from Sonipat had registered a 31.59m throw in his only other legal attempt.
Soorma, on the other hand, won silver with a best effort of 34.59m in his very first attempt to take India’s medal count in the ongoing Games to 24 — their best ever in Paralympic history, five more than what they had managed in Tokyo 2020.
The 29-year-old from Faridabad who had won gold in the Asian Para-Games in Hangzhou last year while setting an event record, breached the 34-metre mark two more times (34.19m and 34.50m) while his remaining legal attempts were above 33 metres (33.90m and 33.70m). Only one of his attempts was a foul. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the athletes on X.
This year’s Paralympics has etched history. India are competing across 12 disciplines at the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games, three more than Tokyo 2020. Indian para athletes are taking part in three new sports – para cycling, para rowing and blind judo – at Paris 2024. India have had impressive performances at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games so far. However, the question is will India remember these victories? Bound by their physical challenges, these athletes have left no stone unturned to make India proud.
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