Paris Paralympics: Harvinder, Pooja edge closer to third medal in archery with semis berth

Paris, Sep 5 (PTI) Indian archers Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan outclassed their higher-seeded Polish rivals in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the recurve mixed team open category of the Paralympics here on Thursday.

In a clash between the fourth and fifth seeds, the Polish duo of Milena Olszewska and Lukasz Ciszek struggled for consistency while Harvinder and Pooja maintained their momentum, putting the Indian duo just one win away from securing a third archery medal.

India had opened their account with a bronze medal by Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi in the compound mixed team open category before Harvinder created history becoming India’s first ever gold medallist in archery at the Paralympics.

A 7 and a 6 from Ciszek, the men’s individual silver medallist, cost Poland the opening set, allowing Harvinder and Pooja to take an early lead with a 35-32 victory.

Pooja’s crucial 10 in the first end proved decisive as the Indian pair pulled ahead from a 16-all tie after the first two arrows. They then secured a 4-0 lead with a close 33-32 win in the second set.

With Harvinder starting the third set with a perfect 10, India gained a two-point advantage heading into the final two arrows. The duo then closed out the set with a solid 36-32 win, putting them just one victory away from securing a third medal in archery.

A day after making history, Harvinder teamed up with Pooja to raise hopes of securing an unparalleled second medal by edging out Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith and Amanda Jennings 5-4 (16-5) in the shoot-off.

Harvinder and Pooja clinched the first two sets with scores of 31-18 and 35-24.

However, the Indian pair faltered in the next two sets, losing 27-33 and 24-33, forcing the match into a tense shoot-off.

Harvinder and Pooja dominated the shoot-off, winning 16-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash against Poland.

In the recurve open class, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m at a 122cm target made up of 10 concentric circles scoring from 10 points down to 1 point from the centre outwards.

Hailing from a family of farmers from Haryana, Harvinder was just one and a half years old, when he contracted dengue and due to the side effects of some injections administered to him, his legs were left impaired.

Pooja had on Tuesday lost out in the individual quarterfinals.

In 1997, when Pooja was just two months old, she became a victim of medical negligence when she was administered a wrong injection for high fever, resulting in polio in her left leg.