Kyle Tremblay, a first-time Paralympian, faced off against the world’s top-ranked archer, Rakesh Kumar from India, in the quarter-finals of the men’s compound open event in para archery at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Tremblay narrowly lost after an intense shoot-off.
“I gave it my all. I shot hard and landed a 10 on my final shoot-off arrow. Sometimes, the last arrows come down to a combination of luck and skill, and today just wasn’t my day,” Tremblay stated post-competition.
The match began with both archers scoring 29 points in the first end, and Tremblay maintained a slight edge in the second and third ends, leading 29-28 and 30-29, respectively. However, Kumar evened the score in the fourth end, scoring 30 points against Tremblay’s 27.
Reflecting on the match, Tremblay noted, “I had one round with three nines; one 10 would have prevented a tiebreaker.”
As they headed into the fifth end, the tension continued, with only one point separating them. Kumar outperformed Tremblay by one point in the fifth, bringing the total to 144, which led to a tie-breaker shoot-off to determine who would move on.
In the shoot-off, both archers hit the 10 circle, necessitating a close measurement to declare a winner. Tremblay’s arrow was measured at 29.5mm from the bullseye, while Kumar’s was only 3mm away from the center, allowing Kumar to advance to the semifinals by the narrowest of margins.
“It’ll take time for this to sink in, but I really wanted to reach that next round and aim for a medal,” said Tremblay regarding his performance.
Ranked 12th in the world before the Games, Tremblay’s impressive performance against the top competitor is commendable, especially as this was his first appearance at the Paralympics. He expressed confidence for future events, saying, “This being my first Paralympics was incredibly special, particularly sharing it with my coach Linda. This experience has motivated me further for Los Angeles, and I will continue to improve for 2028.”