Guwahati, Aug 30: Indian shooter Avani Lekhara clinched the historic gold in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 final with a record-setting performance at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on Friday.
Lekhara surpassed her own Paralympic record, raising the bar with a final score of 249.7; she ended at 249.6 at the previous Tokyo Paralympics.
She is the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals. Previously, she became the first female shooter from India to win medals in shooting at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Hailing from Jaipur, Rajasthan, Avani pursued sports as a way to overcome her challenges following an accident.
Inspired by the former shooter Abhinav Bindra, she chose para-shooting and began pursuing it full-time in 2015.
Her breakthrough came at the Tokyo Paralympics; she bagged both a gold and a bronze medal in the same event.
India's success at the event was further enhanced after Mona Agarwal clinched the bronze medal for the nation. She finished with a score of 228.7, narrowly missing an all-Indian shootout for gold against Yunri Lee.
