Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to strike gold at the Paralympics before club thrower Dharambir also secured a top finish with a record-shattering throw as the country's athletes continued to surpass expectations on yet another rewarding day at the quadrennial showpiece in Paris.
World champion shot-putter Sachin Sarjerao Khilari and another club thrower Pranav Soorma's silver-winning performances were a major highlight too on a terrific Tuesday for India.
Their performance took India's medal haul to 24 and the nation is currently placed 13th in the overall standings with five gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals. It is India's best-ever performance at the event and will only get better with three more days of competition left.
The 33-year-old Harvinder, who became the first Indian to win an archery medal at the Games with a bronze three years ago in Tokyo, bettered the colour of his medal in a superlative performance of five consecutive wins.
He defeated Poland's Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in a one-sided final to script history for himself and the country. The Haryana archer has impairment in his legs owing to a dengue treatment that adversely affected him when he was just a toddler.
Icing on the cake was Dharambir's Asian record 34.92m throw that helped him stay on top from start to finish, followed by Soorma (34.59m) in the F51 club throw finals. The F51 club throw event is for athletes who have movement affected to a high degree in the trunk, legs and hands. All participants compete while seated and rely on their shoulders and arms to generate power.
Earlier, the 34-year-old Khilari pulled off a 16.32m throw in his second attempt of the F46 category final to better his own Asian record of 16.30m which he set in May while winning gold in the World Para-Athletics Championships in Japan.
Greg Stewart of Canada defended his Tokyo Paralympics gold with a throw of 16.38m, while Luka Bakovic of Croatia took the bronze with 16.27m. Khilari's silver was also India's 11th medal from track-and-field, the Tokyo haul of one gold, five silver and two bronze medals long overhauled.
Late on Tuesday night, Indians won silver and bronze in both men's high jump T63 and javelin throw F46 after Deepthi Jeevanji's bronze in the women's 400m T20 category in India's best day at the Games.
Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in the men's high jump T63 while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar took the second and third spots in the javelin throw F46 final. F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.
