Paralympics 2024 Archery: Historic performance paves the way for India's brighter future

The Paris Paralympics have been historic for the Indian contingent with the para-athletes winning as many as 29 medals, including seven gold medals.

Despite archery's meteoric rise over the years, Indian para-archers were yet to make a lasting mark in the sport at the Paralympics.

Previously, India won just one bronze medal in archery at the Paralympics won by Harvinder Singh at the Tokyo Paralympics in the men's recurve event.

But it changed at the Paris Paralympics, with India performing remarkably well, winning two medals, a gold in the men's individual recurve event and a bronze in the mixed team compound event.

Rakesh and Sheetal's historic bronze

Heading into the mixed team compound event, India were the top-seeded side, with Rakesh Kumar and teenage sensation Sheetal Devi coming off of a good showing in their respective events.

After making light work of Indonesia in the quarterfinals, India faced a resolute Iranian team comprising Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori.

After an intense four rounds, the match ended in a draw and in the resulting shoot-off, Fatemeh hit the bullseye, leaving the Indians no chance.

But the two pulled themselves back up and delivered a brilliant performance in the bronze medal match against Italy, making a remarkable comeback in the final round.

Trailing by one point heading into the final round, Rakesh and Sheetal scored 40 out of possible 40 in their final four arrows and won the game 156-155, dropping just four points across the entire match.

Harvinder goes big!

Recurve archery has never been a happy hunting ground for India in marquee international events, but Harvinder delivered a historic performance to change India's fortunes.

After winning India's first para-archery medal at the Paralympics in Tokyo, Harvinder improved the colour by clinching the gold medal in Paris.

Harvinder had a relatively smooth run to the final, barring a few occasions when he was under pressure. In the final, he was up against Lucasz Ciszek, and Harvinder rose to the occasion, delivering a five-star performance and sealing the gold with a straightforward 6-0 win.

This was India's first gold in archery at the Paralympics and Harvinder became India's first-ever two-time medallist at the Paralympics.

Rakesh comes agonisingly close, Sheetal fares well

In the singles events of compound archery, Rakesh Kumar, the world no.1 compound para-archer, fell short of the medal place, finishing fourth.

Two successive defeats in the hands of Ai Xinliang and He Zihao in the semifinal and bronze medal match respectively cost Rakesh his first individual compound archery medal at the Paralympics.

The other Indian competitor, Shyam Sundar, lost in his first match against Thai archer Comsan Singpirom in a shoot-off after they

Sheetal Devi, the 17-year-old archery prodigy, had a debut Paralympics to remember, reaching the quarterfinals with some stunning performances for the world to see.

She fell prey to Turkey's Oznur Cure in the last eight.

Pooja Jatyan faltered at the wrong moment in her quarterfinal tie against Wu Chunyan in the women's recurve archery event.

After going up 4-0 and about to take a match point arrow, Pooja, disappointingly, shot a 7 and gave the set away to the Chinese. Another 7 in the next set meant Wu was at a 4-4 level and in the final set, the Chinese completed the comeback, winning 6-4.

The Indian mixed team in the recurve open event finished in fourth place, losing the bronze medal match to Slovenia 5-4.

Although in a good position, wayward shooting cost India a medal and they had to return home narrowly missing out on the third spot.