On Thursday Avani Lekhara created history as she won a historic gold medal at the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 in the Paris Paralympics. Lekhara surpassed her own Paralympic record, raising the bar with a final score of 249.7 as she ended at 249.6 at the previous Paralympics in Tokyo.
Her penultimate shot, a 9.9, temporarily dropped her to second place behind Korea’s Yunri Lee, who seemed to claim the top spot. However, Lekhara’s final shot, a steady 10.5 Lee faltered under pressure, delivering a disappointing 6.8, which allowed Lekhara to clinch the gold by a significant margin of 1.9, sealing her legacy as one of India’s finest Paralympians.
India’s win at the event was further extended by Mona Agarwal’s remarkable achievement of winning the bronze medal, which contributed to India’s medal tally.
Mona ended with a final score of 228.7 and lost to Yunri Lee for a chance to set up an all-Indian shootout for gold. Mona had been consistent throughout the round and had been at the top after 20 shots with a score of 208.1. However, a 10.0 in her 22nd shot of the final ended her campaign, with the Indian successfully clinching a bronze.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Avani Lekhara and tweeted on X (formerly twitter), ‘India opens its medal account in the #Paralympics2024! Congratulations to @AvaniLekhara or winning the coveted Gold in the R2 Women 10M Air Rifle SH1 event. She also creates history as she is the 1st Indian woman athlete to win 3 Paralympic medals! Her dedication continues to make India proud.
India opens its medal account in the #Paralympics2024!
Congratulations to @AvaniLekhara for winning the coveted Gold in the R2 Women 10M Air Rifle SH1 event. She also creates history as she is the 1st Indian woman athlete to win 3 Paralympic medals! Her dedication continues to…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 30, 2024
Notably, Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to clinch two Paralympic gold medals. At Tokyo Paralympics, she had become the first woman shooter from the country to win medals in shooting. In addition to a gold medal in the 10m air rifle standing SH1, she also won a bronze in the 50m rifle 3 positions. SH1 category in shooting involves athletes who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, and legs or have no limbs.
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