Paralympics: Harvinder claims first-ever archery medal for India

Tokyo, Sep 3 (IANS) India's Harvinder Singh won a bronze medal in the Men's Individual Recurve Open at the Paralympic Games here on Friday, beating South Korea's Kin Min Su 6-5 in a shootout at the Yumenoshima Final Field.Harvinder, who had finished 21st in the ranking round, won three elimination duels on Friday before his storming run was halted by Kevin Mather of the United State in the semi-finals.This is India's first medal in the Paralympic Games archery competition and also India's third medal of the day and 13th of the Tokyo Paralympic Games.In the bronze medal match, Harvinder started by winning the first set 26-24 but the Korean came back to level scores 2-2 by taking the second set 29-27.In the third set, Harvinder tallied a score of 28 with two 10s while Kim managed 25. Leading 4-2, Harvinder had to win the next to seal the medal but they shared one point each as both managed a score of 25 each in the fourth set.In the fifth set, Harvinder scored 26 and Kim edged him by one point to take the duel into the shoot-out.In the shootout, Kim shot an 8 and Harvinder a 10, the Indian winning his first Paralympic Games bronze medal.
--IANS bsk/kh