At the Paris Paralympics 2024, India’s shooter Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in the R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle (SH1) event on 30 August. Mona Agarwal of India won the bronze medal in the same event. With these two medals, India’s account has been opened in the current Paralympic Games. India has one gold and one bronze medal to its name.
Avani Lekhara Paris Paralympics 2024
22-year-old Avni scored 249.7 points in the final, which is a Paralympic record. Bronze medalist Mona scored 228.7 points. Avni also won the gold medal in the same event at the Tokyo Paralympics (2020). Star para shooter Avni Lekhara has won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle SH1 final event. Avni Lekhara had a good performance in the qualification round. Avni finished second in the qualification round with a score of 625.8. Talking about Mona Agarwal, she finished fifth with a score of 623.1. South Korea’s Lee Yunri won the silver medal in this event.
Earlier, Avni Lekhara came into the limelight when she won gold in the SH1 category at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. Avni also holds the record of winning two medals in the Paralympics. At the Tokyo Paralympics, she won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle while she won the bronze medal in the 50m rifle three-position.
The second day of the Paris Paralympics 2024 was great for India. Avni Lakhera created history by winning the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event. This is Avni’s second consecutive gold medal. Earlier, she had also hit gold in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. She has become the first para athlete of India to win two consecutive gold medals. Mona Agarwal won the bronze medal in the same event. This is Mona’s first Paralympics.
India has got its first medal in para-athletics. Preeti Pal won the bronze medal in the final of the women’s 100m T35 event. Preeti won India’s third medal at the 2024 Paralympics with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated
PM Narendra Modi has congratulated Avni Lekhara on Twitter for winning gold in the Paralympic Games. PM Narendra Modi wrote, ‘India opened the medal account in Paralympics 2024. Many congratulations to Avni Lekhara for winning gold in the 10M Air Rifle SH1 event. She has also created history as she is the first Indian female athlete to win 3 Paralympic medals. Her dedication makes India proud.’ PM Narendra Modi also congratulated Mona Agarwal.