Avani Lekhara wins Gold Medal in women’s 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 final

The 19-year-old became the first woman from India to win a Paralympics gold medal. Avani finished with a Paralympic Record and in-process equalled the World Record with 249.6 points.

China’s Cuiping Zhang grabbed silver by scoring 248.9 points while Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik won bronze.

Avani Lekhara started the final at a very good pace as she scored consistently above 10 points. Just two-shot of her went below 10 in the 1st competition stage which landed her in the second position.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the young shooter and tweeted,”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.”

Earlier, the ace shooter finished seventh in the qualification round with a total score of 621.7. 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. The Indian shooter will now lock horns in the finals of the showpiece event.

On Sunday, India’s para table tennis player Bhavina won silver as she lost the gold medal match to China’s Zhou Ying 3-0 in the women’s singles – Class 4.

With the silver medal, Bhavina became the first table tennis player ever to win a medal at the Paralympics for India and the second female athlete after PCI chief Deepa Malik to achieve this feat.

Deepa had won silver at Rio 2016 in women’s shot put.