India’s Paralympic archery campaign suffered a setback as the Mixed Team Recurve Open duo of Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in a shoot-off.
Harvinder, the reigning Paralympic champion in the Men’s Individual Recurve Open, and Pooja began strongly, winning the first set 33-30. However, they faltered in the second set, scoring only 29 points, allowing Slovenia’s Ziva Lavrinc and Dejan Fabcic to level the match.
The Indian pair regained the lead in the third set with a 34-38 victory, but they failed to capitalize in the fourth set, scoring only 29 points to Slovenia’s 34.
In the shoot-off, Harvinder and Pooja scored 17 points, while Lavrinc and Fabcic scored 19, securing the bronze medal for Slovenia.
Earlier, Harvinder and Pooja had lost to eventual gold medalists Elkisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani of Italy in the semifinals. The Indian duo had also faced a close 5-4 win over Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith and Amanda Jennings in the quarterfinals.
Despite the disappointment, Harvinder’s historic gold medal in the Men’s Individual Recurve Open remains a significant achievement for India in Paralympic archery.
