Paris Paralympics: India wins 4 medals including gold; Avani Lekhara scripts history

India won four medals including one gold on Friday (August 30) at the ongoing Paris Paralympics 2024 in France.

Shooter Avani Lekhara became the first Indian to claim successive Paralympic gold medals with a record-shattering top finish in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) shooting competition.

Winner of the Tokyo Paralympics gold three years back, Avani, 22, shot a superb 249.7 to erase her own Paralympic record of 249.6 set in the Japanese capital three years back.

In the same event, India’s Mona Agarwal won the bronze medal.

There was another medal for India in shooting as Manish Narwal clinched silver in the men's 10m air pistol (SH1) final.

The fourth medal on the day for India came in athletics as Preethi Pal won bronze in the track event. She finished third in the women’s T35 100m competition with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds.

This was India’s first track event medal in Paralympics. All the athletics medals India had won since the 1984 edition of the Paralympics have come from field events.

What Avani said

"It was a very close final. There was very less gap between 1, 2 and 3. I was focussing on my thought process and not the result," Avani said after her historic win.

"I'm happy that the Indian national anthem was the first national anthem that got played in the arena this time too. I have two more matches to go so I'm focusing on winning more medals for the country," the champion shooter added.

Mona said, "It was very difficult but I succeeded. So, thank you. Being in the company of Avani definitely helped. She is a champion and she inspires me."

Manish misses gold

The 22-year-old Manish, winner of 50m pistol gold in Tokyo three years ago, looked determined to do an encore in Paris, leapfrogging from No. 5 to the top of the heap.

But just when the gold looked well within his grasp, Manish came up with a series of poor shots in the '9s', which saw him drop to second place and finally settle for silver with a score of 234.9.

Veteran South Korean marksman, 37-year-old Jo Jeongdu upped his game just when it mattered to clinch gold with a score of 237.4, missing the Paralympic Games record by mere decimals.

Manish, who comes from a family of shooters and is the recipient of the highest sporting honour the Khel Ratna, had qualified for the final in fifth place.

Manish had shot a total of 565 to enter the eight-man final.

The other Indian in the event, 17-year-old Rudransh Kahndelwal missed the final, finishing ninth with a total score of 561.

Preethi’s achievement

The 23-year-old Preethi, a farmer's daughter from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, opened India's athletics medal account on the second day of competitions.

Preethi had come to Paris after winning a bronze in the same event at the World Para Athletics Championships in May.

China's Zhou Xia (13.58) and Guo Qianqian (13.74) won the gold and silver respectively.

The result was a repeat of the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, as the same Chinese runners Xia and Qianqian had won gold and silver there too.

"This was my first Paralympics and I am still yet to believe that I have won a medal," she said. "I am feeling proud that I have won India's first track medal in the Paralympics."

Preethi will also compete in the T35 200m event in which she also won a bronze in World Para Athletics Championships.

(With agency inputs)