Underdogs Harvinder and Pooja Fighting for Bronze in Paralympic Archery

Indian archers Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan competed valiantly in the semifinals of the Paralympics' recurve mixed team open category, narrowly losing to top-seeded Italians Elisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani. They will play for a bronze medal later. Harvinder previously made history as India's first archery gold medallist.

Indian archers Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan fought hard before going down against top seeds Elisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani 2-6 in the semifinals of the recurve mixed team open category at the Paralympics here on Thursday.

Harvinder and Pooja, however, remained in contention for a medal and will fight for bronze later on Thursday.

After taking the first set 36-31, Mijno and Travisani nailed four 10s in a row in the second set to race to a 4-0 lead.

With time running out, Pooja and Harvinder fought back when they hit two 9s to take a two-point lead at the halfway mark of the third set.

Pooja then came up with a perfect 10 in her final arrow before Harvinder hit the 9-ring to take the third set 37-35 and reduce the deficit to 2-4.

But the top-seeded Italians held their nerve, allowing the Indians no further leeway as they dropped just two points to narrowly edge them out 38-37, securing their place in the final.

The Indian duo earlier outclassed higher-seeded Polish rivals in straight sets to advance to the semifinals. 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 opened its 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.

(With inputs from agencies.)