India's Rakesh Kumar in action at the Paralympics.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Paris: World No 1 archer Rakesh Kumar overcame a blip to defeat Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia in the shoot-off and enter his successive Paralympics quarterfinals in the compound men open category here on Sunday.
In a battle between the top-two world ranked archers, Rakesh held his slender one-point lead and needed a 9-point to seal the issue in five ends.
But he slipped with an 8-pointer red-ring, leaving both the archers locked at 144-144 after regulation five ends comprising 15 arrows.
In the ensuing shootoff, the 39-year-old veteran, who made a quarterfinal exit in the Tokyo Paralympics, held his nerve to shoot a perfect 10, while Ken managed an 8.
Rakesh will face the winner of Canada's Kyle Tremblay and Austria's Meier in the quarters.
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 39-year-old from Jammu 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 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.