One arrow at a time: Making of Paralympic champion archer Harvinder Singh

Dealing with the unexpected, whether in archery or life in general, is no big deal for Harvinder Singh. He has aced the anticipation game thanks to the hard lessons that came his way.

The 33-year-old from Haryana, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian archer to win a Paralympic gold, has impaired legs owing to a dengue treatment gone wrong when he was just one year old but instead of lamenting his fate, he chose to become bigger than his circumstances.

Harvinder's journey to Paralympic glory began with a bronze three years back in Tokyo, which made him the first Indian to finish on the Games podium.

 

On Wednesday, he showed neither fatigue nor nerves to secure five back-to-back wins in a day to bag his second successive Paralympic medal in recurve open category, bettering the previous performance by quite a margin.

All his achievements are a first in Indian archery. And when he is not shooting down medals, Harvinder is busy pursuing a Ph.D in economics.

"In the last few months, I was shooting very well in practice, more than the world record in qualification. Here, I finished ninth (in the ranking round), and my confidence went a little bit down. Anyway, I focused on the matches because anything could happen," Harvinder was quoted as saying by 'World Archery'.

"Archery is a game of unexpected. Everything can happen. I focused on every arrow. Only the next arrow counts," said Harvinder, who reserved his best for the final, nailing three 10s in his last four arrows to knock out his 44-year-old opponent from Poland Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25).

His was India's second medal in archery at the ongoing Games after Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar combined for the compound mixed team bronze.

Harvinder what works best for him is to stay in the moment and think too far ahead.

"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," he broke down the process.

Three years back in Tokyo, Harvinder who hails from Ajitnagar in Kaithal district of Haryana, could not realise his dream of a gold. He said his teammates had a role to play in instilling belief in him that he could aim for the top podium finish.

"In Tokyo, I won bronze, so I'm happy I could change the colour of my medal. Before the (Paris) Games, everybody told me I had a chance to reach gold, and I'm happy I was able to," said Harvinder, who comes from a farming family.

Harvinder's consistency and his monk-like demeanour ensured that he lost no more than three points in each of his matches. The archer, who started taking interest in the sport after watching the action on TV during London Olympics, said that he felt "blessed".

"It feels fantastic. I'm just blessed to achieve this fold for India." he said after the medal ceremony.

Harvinder's mantra is to always aim for a '10' with his final arrow, something he says, helped him achieve his goal in Paris.

"If you have confidence, you can learn the arrow. Sometimes it can slip to nine, but you always have to finish with a 10, because it's your last arrow. In my matches and many situations, I landed my last arrow in a 10. I focused on my last arrow," he said.

The champion archer dedicated the gold medal to his country and his late mother, who died just before the 2018 Asian Para Games were due to begin in Jakarta. As a tribute to his mother, he went on to win gold at the continental games six years back.

"I just thought I have done it for India! I was also thinking about my mother before my matches and after winning gold here.

"I could imagine how happy she would be if she could have been here. When I reach medal (rounds), she is always on my mind," he said.