Tokyo: Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic medals on Friday after adding a bronze in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position SH1 event in Tokyo. She had earlier won gold in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 event.
The Indian bagged the third position with a score of 445.9. Zhang Cuiping of China won gold with a Paralympic Record score of 457.9, while Natascha Hiltrop of Germany came in second with a score of 457.1.
“It was a tough final but I’m happy to have made it into bronze. I could have done better than this. It’s just what finals do to you,” Lekhara said on her performance. “There are a lot of things on which I have to work, and I will definitely do better than this next time. There were a lot of distractions but I gave my 100 per cent to this,” she said, referring to the celebrations that followed her gold medal.
Lekhara will also compete in the mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 event, which will also feature Deepak and Siddhartha Babu. In 2015, she began shooting at a Jaipur shooting range at her father’s request.
“She was angry at her condition and hardly had a desire to talk to anyone. For a change, I used to take her to JDA shooting range in Jagatpura, Jaipur where she developed an interest in shooting,” her father Praveen Lekhara had told PTI after the gold medal win in 10m air rifle competition.
After reading the autobiography of Olympic gold-medallist rifle shooter Abhinav Bindrawhich, Lekhara got inspired. She had made her India debut in the 2017 World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
