Harvinder Singh snatched India's first ever archery medal at the Paralympics, holding his nerve to down Kim Min Su of Korea in a thrilling shoot-off for the men's individual recurve bronze in Tokyo, on Friday.
The world No. 23-ranked India was the first athlete from the country to win a gold medal at a major para competition in the 2018 Asian Games.
An economics scholar from the Punjabi University, Patiala, Singh collected three shoot-off wins on the day, starting with his triumph in the opening rounds.
In the bronze play-off, the 31-year-old was leading 5-3 before the Korean clinched the fifth set, shooting a perfect 10, to force a shoot-off, where 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.
In the semi-finals, Singh lost to world No. 10 Kevin Mather of the United States 6-4 in an intense five-setter (25-28, 24-24, 25-25, 25-24, 24-26).
Singh, who hails from a small village named 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.
In the first round of 32, he squandered a 4-0 lead against Stefano Travisani after shooting a 7 in the third set as his Italian opponent made it 5-5 (27-24, 26-22, 26-27, 25-25, 25-27) to force a shoot-off.
Singh clinched the issue -- 6-5 (10-7) -- in style, shooting a perfect 10 in the tie-breaker as his rival managed just a 7.
In the last 16 stage, Singh pipped former world number one Bato Tsydendorzhiev of Russia, once again by the thinnest of margins 6-5 (8-7).
He effected a spectacular turnaround from 0-4 down to bring the match on an even keel 5-5 (26-28, 23-26, 29-26, 23-21, 28-28) and force a shoot-off where he edged out his Russian opponent 8-7.
In the quarters, Singh swept aside 49-year-old three-time Paralympian Maik Szarszewski of Germany 6-2 (25-21, 28-23, 25-28, 26-23) dropping just one set.
Hailing from a middle-class farming family, Singh had dengue when he was just one-and-half years old and a local doctor administered him an injection that had an adverse effect and his legs stopped working properly.
