World Para Shooting C'ships: Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara secure silver-bronze double podium

India started the 2026 World Para Shooting Championships with a silver-bronze double podium for Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara in Changwon, South Korea on Thursday.

Mona shot 250 in the final of the women's air rifle standing SH1 category to finish second behind Kristina Trifunovic of Serbia (250.2) and also confirm India's first quota for the 2028 LA Paralympics.

Meanwhile, the two-time Paralympic champion Avani, who was leading after the 20 shots, had a poor shot in the penultimate series to drop down to third place.

This was the first-ever medal for both Indian shooters at the World Championships, which they doubled with a team gold medal alongside Millie Shah.

Meanwhile, Amir Bhat missed out on the podium, finishing fifth with 15 hits from 35 shots in the final of the 25m Pistol Open SH1 event.

He was tied for the lead after the first five series, but two poor series dropped him to fifth place and cost him a medal.

In the men’s 10m air rifle SH1 event, none of the three Indian shooters qualified for the final. Anandha Krishnan was the best-placed among them, finishing 10th with a score of 620.8.

However, the trio of Anandha Krishnan, Swaroop Unhalkar (618.0) and Rakesh Nidagundi (617.5) combined to win the silver medal in the men’s 10 air rifle SH1 team event.