Indian Para-Shooter Avani Lekhara who won India’s first gold medal at the Paralympic Games two days ago wasn’t able to replicate her success as she got knocked out in the qualifying rounds of the mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event on Wednesday.
Other Indian para-shooters like Siddhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar also had dreadful outings in their qualification events. They finished 40th and 43rd respectively and recorded scores of 625.5 and 624.9 at the Asaka Shooting Range.
The gold medal winner in this event was German para-shooter Natascha Holtrop. She is followed by South Korea’s Park Jinho and Ukraine’s Iryna Schetnik won the bronze.
The 19-year-old para-shooter Avani Lekhara was also the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the Paralympics. She won gold at the R2 Women 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1. Lekhara, who had suffered spinal injuries during a car accident, equalled the world record score of 249.6 at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. She was lauded by many in India including the Prime Minister for her performance in the Games.
SH1 Rifle events are for those para-athletes with lower limb impairment for competition in shooting events that require the rifle.
India will look forward to other participants who are competing today. Sugary Jadhav will compete in the Men’s 100 metres Breaststroke SB7 final. We will see a lot of Indian action in Badminton today as Pramod Bhagat and Papal Kohli will compete in both Mixed Doubles SL3 and SU5 match along with their respective SL3 and SU5 single matches. Amit Kumar Siroha and Dharambir will participate in the Men’s Club Throw F51 event.
