 "Avani Lekhara won a gold medal in Women's 10m Air Rifle category at the Paris Paralympics. Reuters file photo")
Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal both bagged medals in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle SH1 at the Paris Olympics on Friday. Defending Tokyo 2020 champion Lekhara clinched the gold medal and Agarwal the bronze with South Korea’s Yunri Lee taking the silver medal.
Paris Paralympics 2024: News | Medal Tally | India Schedule
Lekhara, who trailed by 0.8 points ahead of the last shot of the competition, scored 10.5 in comparison to Lee’s 6.8 to take spot.
In the end, Lekhara’s total read 249.7 to better her own Paralympic record from three years ago in Tokyo.
Agarwal, who took up the sport in 2022, who had been neck-and-neck with Lekhara for most of the competition scored 228.7.
Lekhara, who is wheelchair bound after a car accident left her paralysed below the waist when she was 11-years-old, had become the first woman shooter from the country to win medals in shooting at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.
In the qualification, defending champion Avani shot 625.8 to be placed second behind Iryna Shchetnik, who broke the Paralympic qualification record with a score of 627.5.
Mona, the two-time World Cup gold medallist competing in her maiden Paralympics, shot 623.1 in the qualification and entered the final in fifth place.
SH1 category in shooting involves athletes who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, legs or have no limbs.