Paralympics gold medalist Harvinder Singh has his mascot 'stolen' from games village, here is what happened
I had the medal around my neck and the mascot, which was given to me as a prize, in my hand. I kept it on the dashboard of the car and mistakenly forgot about it," Harvinder said. Only after reaching his room in the Games Village did he realise that he had left the mascot in the car.
Harvinder Singh, who made history by clinching the gold medal in para-archery, India's first-ever gold in para-archery, has been left dejected after a memorabilia he should have been cherishing for the rest of his life was stolen from him. Harvinder told journalist Boria Majumdar that he had accidentally left the Paralympic mascot, which is given to medal winners, behind in a car.
CREDIT: ANI
'It was very special'
"I went to the car that was parked right outside the athletes¡¯ entrance to go back to the village. I had the medal around my neck and the mascot, which was given to me as a prize, in my hand. I kept it on the dashboard of the car and mistakenly forgot about it," Harvinder said.
According to Harvinder, only after reaching his room in the Games Village did he realise that he had left the mascot in the car.
"It was my gold medal-winning prize and was very special to me,¡± he said.
CREDIT: ANI
Sorry, can't help: officials
Given the fact that all the vehicles and their drivers are accredited, Harvinder assumed that it would be easy to trace the car, but when he went to the officials there, he was in for a nasty surprise.
¡°I went to the ¡®lost and found¡¯ the next morning and said to them that I had left my mascot in the car and they needed to see if they could find it for me. They could easily trace the car from the set of assigned cars for the archery venue, and help me. They said they weren¡¯t allowed to check back on which cars were assigned because of privacy issues, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to help," he said, adding that, "It was my gold medal-winning prize and they just refused to help. It was disappointing.¡±
Also read: Who is Harvinder Singh, the first para-archer to win a gold medal for India at Paralympics?
CREDIT: AP
Harvinder Singh to be flag bearers in closing ceremony
Meanwhile, India's Chef de Mission, Satya Prakash Sangwan, announced on Friday that Harvinder Singh and Preeti Pal will be the flag bearers for India at the closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics 2024.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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