Tokyo Paralympics: Archer Harvinder stages comeback to enter quarter-finals

Indian archer Harvinder Singh on Friday advanced to the quarter-final of men's individual recurve at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics. Harvinder defeated Bato Tsydendorzhiev 6-5, winning the match by the finest of margins in the shoot-out.

Indian archer Harvinder Singh on Friday advanced to the quarter-final of men's individual recurve at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics. Harvinder defeated Bato Tsydendorzhiev 6-5, winning the match by the finest of margins in the shoot-out. The Indian archer staged a comeback in the game as he won the third set after losing the two initial essays.

Continuing the winning momentum, Harvinder scripted a win in the fourth set as well. However, the fifth set between the two archers ended in a tie and a shoot-off was staged to decide the winner. In the shoot-off, Tsydendorzhiev shot seven but Harvinder fired an eight to seal the match.

Harvinder had reached the round of 16 after defeating Stefano Travisani of Italy 6-5 earlier in the day. Harvinder had a big chance to win the encounter early in the game but one small mistake resulted in both the archers going for a shoot-off.

Earlier this week, Indian archer Rakesh Kumar missed out on a semi-final berth by a whisker as he faced a 143-145 defeat at the hands of China's Ai Xinliang. Rakesh Kumar gave a neck to neck fight in all five rounds in the quarter-finals but the Chinese archer didn't allow the Indian athlete to get over him.

Another Indian archer Shyam Sundar had gone down 139-142 against Matt Stutzman of the USA in the individual compound open 1/16 elimination round last week. (ANI)