Harvinder Singh
A para-archer from Haryana who won India's first Paralympic gold in archery at Paris 2024, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2025.
In 2024, Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a Paralympic gold medal in archery. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of sports, from Haryana [1].
Overcoming disability
Harvinder Singh was born on 25 February 1991 in a village in Haryana [2]. As a child, a bad reaction to an injection left him with a lasting disability in his left leg [2]. He took up archery in 2012 under coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja [2].
A run of firsts
At the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta he won India’s first-ever gold in para-archery, in the men’s individual recurve open event [2]. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics he won bronze, the first Paralympic medal by an Indian archer [2]. He added a team bronze at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou [2].
Then, at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, he won gold in the men’s individual recurve open, India’s first Paralympic gold in archery [2].
Scholar too
Away from the range, he completed a master’s degree in economics at Punjabi University, Patiala, and has gone on to a PhD [2]. He received the Arjuna Award in 2021 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2025: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2025: citation for Harvinder Singh — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
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