Avani Lekhara wins a historic gold medal at the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 in the Paris Paralympics
Paris Paralympics 2024: Avani Lekhara wins a historic gold medal at the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 in the Paris Paralympics. The star shooter won her second consecutive Paralympic gold in women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) in Chateauroux. Lekhara surpassed her Paralympic record in an exceptional display of her merit by raising the bar with a final score of 249.7; she ended at 249.6 at the previous Paralympics in Tokyo. At the same event, Mona Agarwal added to India’s glory by securing the bronze medal with a final score of 228.7, which contributed to India’s medal tally. Mona lost to Yunri Lee for a chance to set up an all-Indian shootout for gold. This was the first time India had a double podium finish in the same event at the Paralympic Games.
Day 2 at the Paris Paralympics 2024
After Mona Agarwal lost to Yunri Lee, Avani lekhara faced her in the finals. The competition between the two was intense with Avani narrowly surpassing Korea’s Lee Yunri, who shot 246.8 for silver. Avani secured the gold medal with a strong 10.5 shot. Apart from the glorious win of Avani lekhara and Mona Agarwal, many other Indians shined on the second day of the Paralympics 2024. Indian Shooter Manish Narwal secured a silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1) final and two bronze medals, adding to India’s medal tally. Preethi Pal secured a bronze medal in the women’s 100m event in the T35 category at the Paralympics with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds. The T35 classification is for athletes with coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia, and athetosis. Their collective win placed India in the 10th spot in the overall standings, ahead of Japan and Korea. In the men’s singles SL3 group A match Nitesh Kumar delivered an outstanding performance, defeating China’s Yang and securing a spot in the semifinals of the para badminton competition. Archer Rakesh Kumar moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the compound men’s open category with a win over Senegal’s Aliou Drame.
Avani lekhara shooting: About the athlete
With this win, Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. Avani lekhara is the second Indian after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia to win two gold medals at the Games. Born in the state of Rajasthan, Avani has previously won a gold medal in the 10m air rifle standing and a bronze medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. As per the World Shooting Para Sport Rankings, Lekhara is ranked the World No. 1 in Women’s 10m Air Rifle SH1. Lekhara was 11 when an unfortunate accident left her with complete paraplegia. She started training in archery but later found her true calling in shooting.
