Paralympics 2024: Shooter Avani defends her title, Mona wins bronze on debut

Avani Lekhara and Mona Agrawal created history by finishing together on the podium of the 10m air rifle SH1 category at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday with a gold medal and a bronze medal.

Avani defended her gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics breaking the Paralympic record by 0.1 point and became the first-ever Indian woman to win medals at two different editions of Paralympics.

Avani scored 249.7 breaking her previous Paralympic record of 249.6 from Tokyo Paralympics while Mona scored 228.7 to take the bronze medal home.

It was a dramatic final as the gold medal was decided on the final shot.

While Mona had a poor start with 9.8 in her first shot, Avani started confidently with a score of 10.3. The final moved at a brisk pace with both Indian shooters being in the medal contention.

Both shooters remained in the top three with Mona taking the first spot in the second last elimination round to confirm two medals for India.

With just shooters in contention, things got tight as Mona 10.0 in the penultimate elimination round to finish in the third position winning a bronze medal in her maiden appearance at the Paralympics.

Avani was placed second with just two shots to go with Lee Yunri of Korea taking the lead.

Avani shot a poor 9.9 in the penultimate shot while Lee shot 10.7 taking a lead of 0.8. While it looked done and dusted for Avani, Lee shot a poor 6.8 in the final shot while Avani shot 10.5.

With that shot, Avani confirmed India's first-ever gold medal in the 2024 edition of the Paralympics.

Earlier in the qualification, Avani shot a 625.8 to be placed behind Iryna Shchetnik, who broke the Paralympic Qualification Record with a score of 627.5. Mona Agarwal shot 623.1 in the qualification.

SH1 category in shooting involves shooters who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, and legs or have an absence of limbs.