Exclusive: Paralympic athletes are real life heroes: Father on Avani's historic gold medal win

Lekhara sustained severe spinal cord injuries in the accident in 2012 but she took it upon herself to steer the course, helped generously by her father's insistence that she take up shooting.

Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan): Avani Lekhara on Monday became India's first woman gold medallist at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo when she shot a total of 249.6 in the 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1.

In doing so, the 19-year-old shooter from Jaipur created a new Paralympics record and also equalled the world record.

Read: On top of the world, it's indescribable: Avani Lekhara

Life turned upside down for Avni Lekhara pretty early when a car accident rendered her immobile as an 11-year-old but what the tragedy could not do was take away her and her family's resolve to be a notch above the circumstances.

Lekhara sustained severe spinal cord injuries in the accident in 2012 but she took it upon herself to steer the course, helped generously by her father's insistence that she take up shooting.

And now, her father is nothing but "proud" of herself.

"Avani worked extremely hard at her game. She used to train for 7-8 hours. The result is an outcome of the hardwork. There is a saying that goes... an Olympic player becomes hero after winning the medal, but Paralympic players are anyway real life heroes. It a huge achievement that he/she is able to reach this level," Avani Lekhara father Praveen Lekhara told Etv Bharat.

Read: Tokyo Paralympics: India's Avani wins gold for 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 final

Ranked fifth in the world, Lekhara is set to compete in three more events -- mixed air rifle prone, women's 50m rifle 3 positions and mixed 50m rifle prone.

Tap the video for her father's full interview.