India continued its impressive run at the Paris Paralympics, gathering a total of four medals on Day 7 of the quadrennial event, including 2 gold and 2 silver medals. Harvinder Singh and Dharambir Nain bagged gold medals, causing India’s medal count to reach 5 gold, 9 silver, and 10 bronze medals. This result marked a new record for the country in terms of their past performances at the Paralympics.
Harvinder Singh etched his name into record books by becoming the first Indian para-archer to ever win a gold medal at the Paralympics. He defeated Lukasz Ciszek of Poland in the final of Men’s Individual Recurve Open with a score of 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25). This marks the second Paralympics medal for Harvinder, who had won a bronze medal in the same event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Harvinder started his campaign with a win over Tseng Lung-hui of Taiwan with a score of 7-3. He continued his winning streak with a 6-2 victory over Indonesia’s Setiawan and then another 6-2 triumph against Colombia’s Hector Ramirez. The 33-years-old then secured a 7-3 victory against Arab Ameri of Iran in the semifinals.
Dharambir Nain and Pranav Soorma claimed the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the Men’s Club Throw F51. Dharambir broke the Asian record with a best throw of 34.92m in his fifth attempt. Soorma secured the silver medal after throwing a distance of 34.59m in his first attempt, but was unable to improve upon it in subsequent attempts. Zeljko Dimitrijevic of Serbia took the bronze with a throw of 34.18m in his second attempt.
Sachin Khilari clinched the silver medal in the Men’s Shot Put F46. His best throw measured 16.32m, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Canada’s Greg Stewart, who claimed the gold medal with a best throw of 16.38, which was also his season best.
India’s campaign in table tennis in the Paris 2024 Paralympics ended with Bhavina Patel’s loss in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Singles Table Tennis WS class 4 event on Wednesday. The Tokyo silver medalist succumbed to a defeat against defending champion China’s Ying Zhou by 1-3 (12-14, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11).
As of the end of Day 7 of the Paris Paralympics, India’s medal count stands at 24, consisting of 5 gold, 9 silver, and 10 bronze medals. This outperforms the country’s previous best performance in the Tokyo Paralympics, where they won 19 medals, including 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals.