 "Who is Avani Lekhara, the gold medallist at Paris Paralympics")
Avani Lekhara successfully defended her gold medal from Tokyo 2020 in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle at the Paris Paralympics on Friday (August 30). In the process she opened India’s account in the French capital alongside Mona Agarwal who took the bronze medal.
From the beginning of the final, the two Indians maintained their spots among the podium places with Agarwal going level with Lekhara at one stage. But Avani maintained her foothold at the top of the eight-shooter final charts.
The Indian needed a last-gasp winning shot on the final attempt to keep South Korea’s Yunri Lee at bay.
Lekhara scored 249.7 points at the end of the final, thereby breaking her own Paralympic record from three years ago in Tokyo.
Who is Avani Lekhara?
Avani Lekhara had become the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics in Japan. She entered the record books after finishing first in the R2 women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event.
Then 19 years old, Lekhara, who hails from Jaipur in Rajasthan, had registered a world record-equalling total of 249.6.
At the Tokyo Para Games, she also clinched a bronze in 50m Rifle 3 Position SH1 event.
The 22-year-old sustained spinal cord injuries in a car accident in 2012. She started shooting after reading Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra’s autobiography ‘A shot at history’.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAfter her father encouraged her to take up sports as means of physical and mental rehabilitation, she tried her different sports, including archery, but the inclination towards shooting happened thanks to Bindra’s book.
She first began shooting at the Jagatpura Sports Complex in Jaipur in 2015. Her first international event came two years later in 2017 at the Para Shooting World Cup in Al Ain in UAE where she won a silver medal.
She clinched another silver at the Para Shooting World Cup in Croatia in 2019.
In March 2021, she took the gold medal at the first National Para-shooting championships in the women’s R2 10m air rifle women’s SH1.
Five months before the Paris Paralympics, she underwent a procedure to remove gallbladder stones.
“Gallbladder stones had been troubling her since 2023. It also affected her training as the recurring pain around the stomach and waist would mean that she could not spend the usual hours at the shooting range.
Avani wanted to give her best at the Paris Paralympics. So we decided to get the gall bladder removed in March this year. It took her some time to recover and it was a tough phase. But at the end of the tough year, she has achieved a historic feat,” her father Praveen Kumar told The Indian Express.
“Avani competed in the New Delhi World Cup last year with consistent pain and it would hamper her progress too. Post the surgery this year, she was advised to rest for two months and when she restarted, weakened muscles was the main challenge. So we returned to the basics for some days making her do dry/shadow loading.
Her body would shake sometimes during the shooting due to the weak neuro muscular memory post the recovery. Once her neuro muscular memory regained to full, we went for the full number of targets and she was on track before Paris,” her coach Chandra Shekar told the same outlet.
Apart from shooting, Avani likes listening to music, watching films, cooking, baking and spending time with her family.
What are Avani Lekhara’s achievements?
Paralympics Games (2020) - Gold Medal in R2 - Women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 & Bronze Medal in R8 - Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1
Asian Para Games (2022) – Gold Medal in R2 - Women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1
World Cup New Delhi (2024) - Bronze Medal in R2 - Women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 & R6 – Mixed Team 50m Rifle Prone SH1 1
Osijek World Cup (2023) – Gold Medal in R2 - Women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 & Silver Medal in R10 – Mixed Team 10m Rifle Standing SH1
Changwon World Cup (2023) – Silver Medal in R2 – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1
Paris Paralympics (2024) - Gold medal in R2 - Women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1
Government support
Financial Assistance for Foreign Training & Competitions
Financial Assistance for Sports Equipment
Out of Pocket Allowance under TOPS
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