Harvinder Singh, the Paralympic champion, took the individual gold medal in recurve men at the Beijing 2025 Asian Para Archery Championships.
It was the 34-year-old’s first Asian title. Singh, who led from the start after setting a championship record in the ranking round, beat Hanreuchai Netsiri of Thailand 7-1 in the final.
The Indian was only troubled after a wobble in the last two ends of his semifinal against China’s Zhao Lixue forced a shootoff, which Singh won with a better nine.
Singh also won a gold medal in recurve mixed team on Saturday.
It means that the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games champion – who received a prestigious Padma Shri award earlier this year – will enter the worlds in Gwangju as the favourite and with the rare opportunity to hold the world, continental and Paralympic titles at the same time.
In compound women, Singapore’s Nur Syahidah Alim retained the title she won in Bangkok two years ago, beating China’s Qiling Huang with room to spare, 142-138.
20-year-old Zihan Gao of China won the recurve open title in her debut international tournament, showing steel after her miss in the mixed team competition on Saturday which cost China a gold medal. With Paralympic and world champion Wu Chunyan absent from this competition, perhaps a new star is on the rise?
With China dominating the medal table here in Beijing, it is clear their long-term investment in para archery is still paying off. As well as the worlds this year, many archers will be looking ahead to the Asian Para Games in Nagoya, Japan in 2026, an event on the calendar almost as important as the Paralympics for Asian nations.
Who will grab the biggest prizes of all?
