Lekhara shoots into Paralympics history with second medal
SHOOTER Avani Lekhara last Friday (3) became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic medals by claiming the 50m Rifle 3 Position SH1 bronze to add to an unprecedented gold she had won earlier in Tokyo.
The 19-year-old Lekhara, competing in her debut Games, qualified second for the event with a score of 1176, including 51 inner 10s.
In the fiercely contested finals, Lekhara totalled 445.9 to finish ahead of Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik, who let slip her grip on the medal spot with a poor third shot of 9.9 in the elimination.
Lekhara had become the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold by claiming the top honours in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 event.
The Jaipur-based shooter, who sustained spinal cord injuries in a car accident in 2012, had fired a world record equalling total of 249.6, which was also a new Paralympic record.
The gold last Friday’s event was claimed by China’s Zhang Cuiping with a new Games record of 457.9, while German Natascha Hiltrop took the silver with a 457.1 in the final.
Lekhara started shooting on the insistence of her father in 2015 at a city range.
“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 interest in shooting,” her father Praveen Lekhara had told reporters after the gold medal she won in 10m air rifle competition.
The youngster was also inspired by Olympic gold-medallist rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra after reading his autobiography, which was a gift from her father.
A student of law, Lekhara made her debut for India in 2017 World Cup in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Praveen Kumar clinched a silver medal in the men’s high jump T64 event of the Paralympics last Friday. The 18-year-old, competing in his debut Paralympics, set a new Asian record with a 2.07m jump to finish behind Great Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards, who notched up his season’s best effort of 2.10m for the gold.
“I can’t explain how I feel. This jump was ecstatic. This is my first Paralympic Games and I am waiting to see what lies ahead,” Kumar said after his medal-winning feat.