World number one Rakesh Kumar’s stunning run in the Paralympics ended without a medal as he went down by one-point to defending champion He Zihao of China in the bronze play-off of the men’s compound open archery event on Sunday. The 39-year-old from Jammu, who is wheelchair-bound after suffering a spinal cord injury in 2009, had a slender one-point lead with six arrows to go. But Rakesh dropped two points in the penultimate end, as the Tokyo Paralympics champion Zihao seized the momentum, hitting six 10s in a row (with three arrows closer to the bulls-eye) to win 117-116.
Harvinder Singh had won India’s solitary medal in Paralympics archery, a bronze at the Tokyo Games.
In the semifinal, Rakesh failed to bring out his A-game against ‘nemesis’ Ai Xinliang of China to lose by two points.
Like in the quarterfinals, Rakesh endured a slow start and trailed by three points with six arrows to go.
He fought hard and dropped just two points in the last two ends, but it was not enough as Xinliang sealed the issue 145-143 to secure his third successive win over the Indian.
Rakesh’s campaign had ended in Tokyo Paralympics quarterfinals, losing to the Chinese by an identical scoreline.
The Indian earlier overcame world No. 2 Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia 144-144 (10-8) to make the quarterfinals.
A sports psychologist and dietician, Rakesh, returned to the shooting line within two hours and displayed remarkable composure to outshoot Canada’s Kyle Tremblay in a riveting shoot-off with the scores reading 144-144 (10*-10).
Rakesh had a slow start, trailing by two points after nine arrows. However, staying cool as a cucumber, he delivered three perfect 10s in the fourth end, turning the tables to take a narrow 116-115 lead.
The drama intensified in the fourth end when Rakesh lost by one point, with the Canadian shooting two 10s, his final arrow landing closer to the center.
The scores were tied at 144-144, the same scoreline Rakesh faced in the quarterfinals as another shoot-off loomed.
Unlike the Indonesian archer in the quarterfinals, the Canadian found the 10-ring, heightening the tension.
Unfazed, Rakesh took a deep breath, stayed composed, and landed his arrow just 3mm closer to the center.
In comparison, Ken’s arrow was 29.55mm from the bullseye, underscoring Rakesh’s precision under pressure.
Earlier, in a battle between the top-two world ranked archers, Rakesh overcame a blip to defeat Ken.
Rakesh held his slender one-point lead and needed a 9-point in his final arrow to seal the issue in five ends.
But he slipped to the the 8-pointer red-ring as both the archers were locked 144-144 in the regulation five ends, consisting 15 arrows.
In the ensuing shootoff, Rakesh held his nerves to shoot a perfect 10, while Ken managed an 8.
Rakesh started on the backfoot with Ken pulling off a perfect first end shooting 30 out of 30, while the Indian dropped a point.
Rakesh bounced back to drill in three 10s, while Ken managed 28 to take a one-point lead.
The third and fourth ends saw both the archers dropping a point each as Rakesh maintained his slender lead before the slip-up in his final arrow of the designated five ends.
The Indian had won gold medal in individual and mixed team events of the Asian Para Championships last year.
He also won the mixed team gold medal at the World Para Championships.
Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering from it in 2009, he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, plunging him into depression and even thought of taking the extreme step.
His life took a new turn after meeting his archery coach Kuldeep Vedwan as the duo began their stint together at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra.
In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.
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