Chateauroux/Paris: The extraordinary Avani Lekhara became the first Indian to win two successive Paralympic gold medals with a record-breaking performance that cemented her place as one of the finest para-shooters in the world on a history-making day for the country, which also snared its maiden track medal through Preethi Pal.
The 22-year-old Avani, who was paralysed waist-down owing to a car accident as an 11-year-old, claimed the landmark gold in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) shooting competition in Chateauroux.
On the second day of competitions, India also won a silver medal through Manish Narwal in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1) final, and two bronze medals.
The first of these came from 37-year-old late-bloomer Mona Agarwal, also a wheelchair-bound athlete, in the same event in which Avani reigned supreme and the second was clinched by Preethi in the women’s 100m (T35) meet in Paris with a personal best performance.
India occupied the 10th spot in the overall standings ahead of Japan and Korea.
The bespectacled Avani carved out a niche for herself by triumphing in a final which went down to the wire, shooting 249.7 to erase her own Paralympic record of 249.6 set in the Japanese capital in the summer of 2021.
Avani took the gold medal ahead of Korea’s Lee Yunri, who shot 246.8 to win silver and compatriot Mona, who claimed bronze with a final score of 228.7.
It was the first time India had a double podium finish in the same event at the Paralympic Games.
Avani also became the second Indian after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia to win two gold medals at the Games.
However, unlike Jhajharia, who is now heading the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), Avani has achieved the feat across back-to-back Games.
The champion shooter from Jaipur endured a tough buildup to the Paris Games.
She grappled with a host of health issues, including a gallbladder surgery in March after the pain became unbearable, which forced her to take a break of one and half months.
But the committed shooter, who is an assistant conservator of forest with the Rajasthan government, did not let health concerns distract her from her aim of more glory on the grandest stage.
She lost quite a bit of weight following the surgery but the determination to overcome all odds was all too evident during the national camp at the Karni Singh ranges, where she worked hard on regaining her strength and mentally steeling herself for Paris.
“It was a very close final. There was very less gap between 1, 2 and 3. I was focussing on my thought process and not the result,” Avani said after her historic win.
“I’m happy that the Indian national anthem was the first national anthem that got played in the arena this time too. I have two more matches to go so I’m focusing on winning more medals for the country,” the ace shooter added.
The SH1 category is for athletes who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, legs or have no limbs.
The youngster is wheel-chair bound since a car mishap left her paralysed below the waist as an 11-years-old.
In a nerve-wracking final, Avani was trailing her rival Lee Yunri by a few decimal points but the South Korean wilted under pressure and had an awful last shot of 6.8, while the Indian kept her cool to shoot a superb 10.5 to clinch the gold.
Avani’s companion in the final, Mona, who competes in the SH1 category owing to her lower leg impairment caused by an onset of polio in her childhood, notched up 228.7 to finish third on the podium.
The 37-year-old Mona, who dabbled in several sports including shot-put, powerlifting and wheelchair volleyball before settling on shooting, displayed plenty of resilience to reach here after facing societal prejudice in her hometown Sikar in Rajasthan.
Manish misses out on gold
Tokyo Games gold-medallist shooter Manish displayed pluck and courage in ample measure before ending with a silver after shooting 234.9.
The 22-year-old, winner of the 50m pistol gold in Tokyo three years ago, looked determined to do an encore in Paris, leapfrogging from No.5 to the top of the heap.
But just when the gold looked well within his grasp, he came up with a series of poor shots in the ‘9s’, which saw him drop to second place.
Manish was born with a deformity in his right-hand.
First medal in track
Moving away from the shooting range, Preethi won India’s first athletics medal in a Paralympics track event as she clinched a bronze in the women’s T35 100m competition with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds.
T35 classification is meant for athletes who have coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
Preethi, who belongs to a farmer’s family in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, faced significant physical challenges when she was born as her lower body was plastered for six days after birth. Weak legs and an irregular leg posture made her prone to various diseases.
She then underwent various traditional treatments to strengthen her legs, including wearing calipers for eight years from the age of five.
Strong show in badminton, archery
India’s Nitesh Kumar dished out a superlative performance, thrashing China’s Yang Jianyuan in straight games in his second men’s singles SL3 group A match to qualify for the semifinals in para badminton competition.
A 29-year-old IIT Mandi graduate, who suffered a permanent damage to his leg due to an accident in 2009, outclassed Yang 21-5 21-11.
SL3 class is for players with severe lower limb disabilities, requiring play on a half-width court.
Seasoned archer Rakesh Kumar began his campaign with an easy 136-131 win over Senegal’s Aliou Drame to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the compound men’s open category.
