Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated archer Harvinder Singh for winning a Gold in the Men's Individual Recurve Open at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on Wednesday. In a post on X, PM Modi said it was "a very special Gold in Para Archery!"
Extending wishes to Singh, PM Modi posted, “Congratulations to Harvinder Singh for winning the Gold medal in the Men's Individual Recurve Open at the #Paralympics2024!”
The Prime Minister said, "His precision, focus and unwavering spirit are outstanding. India is very happy with his accomplishment."
President Droupadi Murmu also congratulated 33-year-old para-athlete Harvinder Singh for his splendid performance in the final under tremendous pressure.
"My heartiest congratulations to Harvinder Singh on winning gold medal in men's individual recurve para archery event at Paris 2024 Paralympics. This is Harvinder's second medal at consecutive Paralympics and first ever gold medal in para archery for India. His exceptional performance under tremendous pressure is inspirational. I wish he brings more glory to the tricolour," President Murmu wrote on X.
Harvinder, who became the first Indian to win an archery medal at the Games with a bronze three years ago in Tokyo, bettered the colour of his medal in a superlative performance of five consecutive wins.
Singh became India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medalist in archery on Wednesday. He defeated Poland's Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in a one-sided final to script history for himself and the country.
The Haryana-archer has impairment in his legs owing to a dengue treatment that adversely affected him when he was just a toddler.
Harvinder's success marked India's second medal in archery at the ongoing Paris Paralympics. The Indian archery pair of Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi clinched the bronze medal in the mixed team compound event.
Harvinder hails from a family of farmers from Ajit Nagar in Haryana and faced significant adversity early in life. When he was just one and a half years old, he contracted dengue and due to the side effects of some injections administered to him, both his legs were left impaired, news agency PTI reported.
Despite this early challenge, he found a passion for archery after getting inspiration from 2012 London Paralympics. He made his debut at the 2017 Para Archery World Championship, finishing seventh. A gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games followed, and during the COVID-19 lockdown, his father turned their farm into an archery range to support his training. Harvinder made history by winning India's first ever archery medal – a bronze – at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.
(With inputs from agencies)
