Avani Lekhara Clinches Gold With Paralympic Record, Mona Agarwal Secures Bronze; Manish Narwal Wins Silver

Indian para-shooters displayed a stellar show on the second day of the Paralympics 2024 as Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal and Manish Narwal secured a podium finish. Avani scripted a Paralympic record while Mona finished in the third place.

Paris (France): Indian shooters kicked off their medal pursuit in the Paralympics 2024 brilliantly earning two medals on the second day of the competition. Avani Lekhara inked a Paralympic record with a score of 249.7 while Mona Agarwal amassed a total of 228.7 to finish at this position in the event.

Tokyo Games gold medallist shooter Manish Narwal fought hard before settling for silver in the men's 10m air pistol (SH1) event at the Paris Paralympics.

Avani broke her world record while winning the gold which was set four years ago when she racked up a total of 249.6. Avani became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. In the qualification, Avani scored 625.8 and finished at the second position behind Iryna Shchetnik, who broke the Qualification record with a total of 627.5.

In a thrilling finale, at the Chateauroux - Final Range Avani was in the second position till the last shot of the final. Leen Yunri of South Korea was at the top and was on verge of clinching a gold. But she shot 6.8 in her final attempt and Avani seized the opportunity with a 10.5 shot to win the gold. Mona Agarwal was in the gold medal position before the final elimination round. She shot 10.6 in the first two shots but a 10 at the last cost her a third-place finish.

Avani Rajasthan-based athlete faced a life-altering road accident in 2012 which left her wheelchair-bound. Avani's father played a crucial role in her recovery and she opted for competitive shooting in 2015.

Two-time World Cup gold medalist, Mona notched up a total of 623.1 in the qualification and advanced into the final, She sailed into the final after finishing fifth in the event.

The 22-year-old Narwal, who had won gold in 50m pistol event at Tokyo, was leading for quite some time before he slipped because of a series of poor scores to surrender the initiative to veteran South Korean marksman Jo Jeongdu.

Narwal, the elder brother of Indian pistol marksman Shiva Narwal, shot 234.9, while Jeongdu took the gold with a total of 237.4.

Born and raised in Sikar, Rajasthan, Mona's life took a challenging turn as she was affected by the polio virus just nine months after her birth. It affected both her lower limbs but that didn't deter her from making it big in his shooting career.

SH1 category in shooting involves athletes who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, and legs or have no limbs.