Avani Lekhara won India’s fourth medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 with a world-record-equalling effort on Monday. She shot a total score of 249.6 in women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final. The 19-year-old finished with a world record-equalling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record. This is India’s fourth medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games so far.
Avani staged a good recovery after a slow start to advance to the finals of the showpiece event. She registered good scores of 104.9, 104.8 in her third and fourth attempt to be in the game before scoring 104.1 in the final round of qualification. Lekhara finished seventh in the qualification round with a total score of 621.7. But produced a stunning recovery to win the gold. The 10m Air Rifle shooter hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan and she trains in the JDA Shooting Range in the Pink City. She suffered Traumatic Paraplegia caused by an accident in 2012. Lekhara became the fourth Indian athlete to win a godl medal at the Paralympics after swimmer Murlikant Petkar in 1972, javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia in 2004 and 2006 and high jumper Thangavelu Mariyappan in 2016. Hailing the para shooting’s feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated on Twitter. He wrote,” Phenomenal performance @AvaniLekhara! Congratulations on winning a hard-earned and well-deserved Gold, made possible due to your industrious nature and passion towards shooting. This is truly a special moment for Indian sports. Best wishes for your future endeavours.”
