Ace Indian shooter Avani Lekhara missed out on a second medal at the ongoing Paralympic Games and finished fifth after putting up a strong fight in the final of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Avani, paralysed waist-down owing to a car accident she suffered as an 11-year-old, shot a total of 420.6 across the three stages of kneeling, prone and standing in a world-class eight-woman field. Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop won the gold with a total of 456.5, Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova claimed silver with 456.1, and China’s Zhang shot 446.0 to bag the bronze.

Avani led the final briefly but slipped to sixth place at the end of the prone stage, which is not her strong area as it causes her problems owing to positioning.

The Indian ace was doing well in the standing stage, her strong suit, but then an unexpected 8.3 did not help her cause.

The SH1 class is designated for athletes with lower-limb impairment for competition in rifle shooting events. Here shooters are able hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or chair).

Earlier in the day, Avani entered the final of the competition after finishing the qualification in seventh place. Avani shot a total of 1159 in the qualification.

The other Indian shooter in the event, Mona Agarwal, however, could not clear the qualification hurdle and ended in the 13th position. Mona aggregated 1147.

The top eight shooters from the qualification progressed to the finals.

In the final, Avani had 150.9 points at the end of the kneeling round and was placed second, with Chinese shooter Cuiping Zhang (151.5) leading the field going into prone.

However, things changed drastically for Avani in the prone where a few sub-10 scores, including a 9.2, brought her down to the sixth place.

Standing, no doubt, is her strong area but the gap with the leaders had widened too much by the time the final entered its last stage.

She shot a 10.6 to avoid being eliminated ahead of Iryna Shchetnik.

Avani, nonetheless, will return home after another excellent campaign during which she became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics.

She claimed the top prize in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting event, successfully defending the title she won in Tokyo three years ago with a new Games record score of 249.7 in the final. 

Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal© X (Twitter)

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Indian shooters Avani Lekhara finished 11th while Sidhartha Babu ended 28th and were unable to make the final of the mixed 10m air rifle prone (SH1) event at the Paralympic Games on Sunday. In the mixed 10m air rifle prone (SH2) qualification, Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna ended in 26th place with a total score of 630.2. In the Paralympics mixed event, both men and women compete on the line against each other. Coming off her historic gold medal in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, Avani could not replicate that form despite a strong start in what is not her pet event, and ended the competition with a total score of 632.8.

Sidhartha aggregated 628.3 across six series.

Avani’s sequence of scores read 105.7, 106.0, 104.1, 106.0, 104.8, 106.2, while Sidhartha had scores of 104.6, 103.8, 105.7, 104.9, 103.6, 105.7.

On Friday, Avani, the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals with her victory in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) event, had defended her title with a world record score.

In SH1, athletes are able to hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or chair).

Athletes classified in SH2 category are unable to hold their rifle independently, so they use a stand, but can aim by themselves and control the weapon when they shoot. Certain athletes may have an assistant to reload their gun.

Only the top eight from qualification progress to the final.

The 44-year-old Devaraddi scored 105.2 in Series 1, improved it to 105.7 in the next series. He followed that with a sequence of 105.4, a disappointing 104.3, 105.6 and 104.0.

Eleven years ago, an accident left him with limited control over his limbs.

Born in 1980 in Dharwad, Devaraddi currently resides in Hubballi with his wife, son, and parents. The accident took place when his bike overturned on a gravel road, resulting in a serious spinal cord injury and despite undergoing surgery, he lost control of both his hands and legs.

File image of Avani Lekhara© X (Twitter)

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Shooter Avani Lekhara said that she was happy to win a medal for the country.© X (Twitter)

Paris 2024 Paralympics LIVE: Here’s India’s Day 2 schedule!

Para Badminton

12 PM: Manasi Joshi vs Oksana Kozyna (Ukraine) in Women’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

1:20 PM: Manoj Sarkar vs Mongkhon Bunsun (Thailand) in Men’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

2 PM: Nitesh Kumar vs Jianyuan Yang (China) in Men’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

2:40 PM: Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj vs Kyung Hwan Shin (Korea) in Men’s Singles SL4 Group Play Stage

4:40 PM: Palak Kohli vs Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia) in Women’s Singles SL4 Group Play Stage

7:30 PM: Thulasimathi Murugesan vs Beatriz Monteiro (Portugal) in Women’s Singles SU5 Group Play Stage

8:10 PM: Sivarajan Solaimalai vs Man Kai Chu in Men’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

8:50 PM: Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Yi-Lin Cai (Chinese Taipei) in Women’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

10:50 PM: Krishna Nagar vs Miles Krajewski in Men’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

12:10 AM (31 August, Saturday): Nitesh Kumar/Thulasimathi Murugesan vs Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel (France) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

12:10 AM (31 August, Saturday): Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj/Palak Kohli vs Hikmat Ramdani/Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

01:30 AM (31 August, Saturday): Sivarajan Solaimalai/Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Natthapong Meechai/Chai Saeyang (Thailand) in Mixed Doubles SH6 Group Play Stage

Para Shooting

12:30 PM: Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Qualification

2:45 PM: Rudransh Khandelwal, Manish Narwal in Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Qualification

3:15 PM: Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Final (If qualified)

5 PM: Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna in Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 Qualification

5:30 PM: Rudransh Khandelwal, Manish Narwal in Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final (If qualified)

7:45 PM: Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna in Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 Final (If qualified)

Para Athletics

1:30 PM: Jyoti Karam, Sakshi Kasana in Women’s Discus Throw – F55 Final

4:45 PM: Preethi Pal in Women’s 100m – T35 Final

12:22 AM: Manu in Men’s Shot Put – F37 Final

Para Rowing

3 PM: Anita/Narayana Konganapalle in PR3 Mixed Double Sculls Heats

Para Archery

3:03 PM: Sarita vs Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil (Malaysia) in Women’s Individual Compound Open 1/16 Elimination

Para Cycling Track

4:24 PM: Arshad Shaik in Men’s C2 3000m Individual Pursuit Qualifying