Tokyo: Shooter Avani Lekhara, who became India’s first female gold medalist at the Paralympic Games two days ago, was eliminated in the qualification round of the mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event on Wednesday.
Lekhara did not perform to her normal standards, finishing 27th with a score of 629.7 and crashing out in the third round. In the men’s event, Sidhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar had a terrible day at the Asaka Shooting Range, finishing 40th and 43rd with scores of 625.5 and 624.9 respectively.
In her debut Games, the 19-year-old Lekhara made history by becoming India’s first Paralympic medalist in shooting, claiming gold in the R2 women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event. Lekhara finished with a world record-equaling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record, after suffering spinal cord injuries in a vehicle accident in 2012.
