The duo, after being defeated by top-seeded Italy in the semifinals, succumbed to Slovenia with a score of 4-5 (19-17).
Initially, Harvinder and Pooja, both from Haryana, managed to secure leads of 2-0 and 4-2.However, they were outplayed by Ziva Lavrinc and Dejan Fabcic of Slovenia in the final stages.
After winning the first set 33-30, mistakes from Pooja (a stray 6) and Harvinder (a stray 5) allowed Slovenia to level the match by winning the second set 34-29.
Harvinder then upped his game with two consecutive 10s, while Pooja hit the 9 ring twice. This ensured a 38-33 win in the third set, restoring their lead to 4-2.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t maintain this momentum. The pair faltered in the fourth set, striking a 5 and a 7, which resulted in Slovenia winning 34-29 and forcing a shoot-off.
In the decisive shoot-off, Dejan Fabcic led with a 9, and Ziva Lavrinc closed it with a perfect 10. Harvinder and Pooja could only muster an 8 and a 9, respectively.
A day after he became the only Indian archer to win a gold, Harvinder teamed up with Pooja to raise hopes of securing an unparalleled second medal by edging out Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith and Amanda Jennings 5-4 (16-5) in the shoot-off in the opening round of 16.
In the quarterfinals, the Indian duo dominated their higher-seeded Polish rivals, winning in straight sets. Harvinder and Pooja maintained their form, while the Polish duo of Milena Olszewska and Lukasz Ciszek struggled for consistency, leading to a 6-0 victory for India.
In the semifinals against Italy’s top-seeded Elisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani, they fought valiantly but were overpowered. Mijno and Travisani took the first set 36-31 and then nailed four consecutive 10s in the second set to lead 4-0.
With time slipping away, Pooja and Harvinder made a comeback in the third set. Two 9s gave them a two-point lead at the halfway mark, followed by a perfect 10 from Pooja and a 9 from Harvinder, taking the set 37-35 and reducing the deficit to 2-4.
The top-seeded Italians held their nerve, allowing the Indians no further leeway as they dropped just two points to narrowly edge them out 38-37, securing their place in the final.
Earlier in the week, India began its medal tally with a bronze won by Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi in the compound mixed team open category.
In the recurve open class, archers shoot from a standing position, aiming at a 122cm target from a distance of 70 meters. The target comprises 10 concentric circles that score from 10 points down to 1 point from the center outwards.
Harvinder Singh comes from a farming family in Haryana. He was left impaired in his legs due to side effects of injections administered when he contracted dengue as a one-and-a-half-year-old. Pooja Jatyan, now 27, also faced a similar fate. At just two months old, she was given the wrong injection for high fever, resulting in polio in her left leg.
Pooja had earlier exited in the individual quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Despite their valiant efforts and occasional brilliance, Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan fell just short of clinching a second medal for India at the Paris Paralympics.
