Avani Lekhara followed her women's 10m air rifle standing (SH1) gold with a bronze medal in women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 on Friday. Lekhara was the first Indian woman to win Paralympic gold and now she is the first Indian woman to win two medals in the same edition of the Games.
The 19-year-old finished fourth when the field fell in the last four and finished third with a decisive shot of 10.5. She finished with a score of 445.9 while Ukraine's Iryna Schetnik, whose rifle finals world record Lekhara earlier equaled on the way to her gold in the event, finished fourth with 435.3. China's Cuiping Zhang won the gold medal with 457.9 points at the Paralympic Games, while Germany's Natasha Hiltrop scored 457.1 to win the silver medal.
Lekhara ranked sixth in the final stage of the competition. She did well on the standing series during qualification and continued down the same path, gradually working her way up to the bronze medal challenge. He then swapped positions with Schetnik before taking third place in the final stages of the competition.
Also Read- Shooter Avani Lekhara First Indian Woman To Win Gold At Paralympics
She previously won the country's first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the women's 10-meter air rifle. She shot a total score of 249.6 in the final, which equaled the world record set by Shchetnik in December 2018. The 19-year-old recovered well after a slow start.
The Tokyo Paralympic Games marked India's best performance in a single edition of the Games, easily surpassing the country's best previous performance of four at the 2016 Rio Games. Lekhara and javelin thrower Sumit Antel won gold, while high jumper Praveen Kumar won India sixth silver medal on Friday. Bhavina Patel, javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia, discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya, high jumpers Mariyappan Thangavellu and Nishad Kumar are the other Indian silver medalists.
Javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar, high jumper Sharad Kumar and thrower Singhraj won bronze medal.
.@AvaniLekhara, you beauty! #IND's ace shooter claims a second medal in R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3P SH1, winning #Bronze with a score of 445.9!
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) September 3, 2021
12 medals for ! #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #ShootingParaSport pic.twitter.com/sJ51rQpky1
Meet The phenomenal young Legend!! With this #Bronze medal in 50M Rifle 3P SH1 just days after her Gold, @AvaniLekhara becomes the First Ever Indian woman to win 2 medals in the same Games @paralympics!!!
— Paralympic India #Cheer4India #Praise4Para (@ParalympicIndia) September 3, 2021
#Praise4Para
@shootingparasport #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/hzll4lftNp
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