Paris Paralympics 2024: Avani Lekhara won second consecutive gold at Paralympics, Mona also made it to the podium

The Indian team's medals in the Paralympic Games began with shooting, as they did at the Paris Olympics. Avani Lekhara delivered an outstanding performance in the final, winning gold. Avani Lekhara, the Tokyo Paralympic shells gold medallist, won the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 gold medal at the Paris Paralympics on Friday. In the same category, Mona Agarwal of India won the bronze medal. This means that two Indians were on the podium together. Avni and Mona competed in the Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1.

Earlier, Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal, who won gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, qualified for the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 final at the Paris Paralympics. In the 17-woman qualification round, Avani finished second with 625.8 points and Mona came in fifth with 623.1. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Iryna Shchetnik topped the qualification with a Paralympic qualification record of 627.5. The previous record was held by Chinese shooter Zhang Cuiping, which she set at the Tokyo Games.

The SH1 category is for shooters with lower limb issues such as amputation or paraplegia, who can hold their gun without any difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position. Avani created history in Tokyo in 2020 when she became the first Indian woman to win two medals in a single edition of the Paralympics. He won the 10m air rifle gold in the SH1 category and bronze in the 50m rifle 3-position in his Summer Games debut. The Indian shooting contingent comprised 10 athletes – Avni, Manish Narwal, Amir Ahmed Bhat, Rudransh Khandelwal, Mona Agarwal, Rubina Francis, Swaroop Mahaveer Unhalkar, Siddharth Babu, Sriharsh Devaradddi and Nihal Singh.