On Monday, Avani Lekhara became the first woman in India to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games. She entered the record book after winning first place in the Tokyo SH1 R-2 women’s R-2 10m air rifle competition. The 19-year-old shooter from Jaipur, Rajasthan, also broke the world record with a total score of 249.6. It is also a new record for the Paralympics.
Avani suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident in 2012 and started filming after reading the autobiography “A Chance of History” by Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra. After her father encouraged her to participate in the sport, she tried different sports, including archery, and her interest in shooting rose due to the book she considered her idol Bindra. He started shooting at the Jagatpura Sports Center in Jaipur in 2015. Two years later, his first international competition was at the 2017 Para-Shooting World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, where he won the silver medal.
In 2019, she won the silver medal again at the Para Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia. Earlier this year, in March, she won the gold medal in the women’s R2 10m air rifle in the first National Para Shooting Championship. For the female R2 10m SH1 air rifle, Avani will participate in three other tests: R8 female-50m 3 position SH1 rifle, Hybrid R3-10m vulnerable to SH1 rifle, and Hybrid R6-50m vulnerable to SH1 rifle. In addition to shooting, Avani also enjoys listening to music, watching movies, cooking, baking, and spending time with his family.
