Harvinder Singh, Vijay Sundi bring gold in archery recurve; Nitesh Kumar beats Pramod Bagat

Harvinder Singh, Vijay Sundi bring gold in archery recurve; Nitesh Kumar beats Pramod Bagat

On Friday morning, Harvinder Singh and debutant Vijay Sundi created history by clinching the gold medal in the men’s recurve doubles event. The pair defeated the Chinese duo of Yun Duo and Zhao Lixue 5-1. The gold rush for India at the Asian Para Games continues. Minutes later, Nitesh Kumar brought another gold medal by beating Pramod Bhagat in the all-Indian men’s singles SL3 badminton final.

The Chinese pair proved no match for the Indian duo, and Harvinder and Vijay had no trouble in sealing the gold medal. This was his second successive silver at the Asian Para Games. India’s gold medal tally at the ongoing Asian Para Games has risen to 23. They have also won 30 silver medals and 42 bronze medals. Speaking of the recurve final, India and China shared the opening set after both sides shot 35. However, the Indian pair took control from there on, winning the second set 37-36 and the third 38-36 to seal the title and win the contest 5-1 on set points. He then got inspiration from the 2012 London Paralympics and decided to take up archery. His international debut came in the 2017 Para Archery World Championship, where he finished seventh. His first major achievement came in 2018, when he won gold at the Para Asian Games. The duo lost 0-6 to China in the gold medal match, going down 31-38, 30-35, and 29-39 in the three-set encounter. India’s Parmod also added another silver, clocking 4:09.65 to finish second in the men’s 1500m T46.

Harvinder had lost the use of his legs due to complications from dengue treatment.

Earlier, Bhawna and Pooja had secured India’s first-ever medal in the Women’s Recurve Doubles event at the Asian Para Games.