Paris Paralympics: Golden girl Avani Lekhara keeps date with history

Avani Lekhara, the 22-year-old para shooter from Jaipur with a quiet personality, belies the steel in her character. She withstood the pressure of being a champion in her category in 10 m air rifle to become a double gold medallist on the second day of Paris Paralympics, kickstarting India’s medal rush in style while compatriot Mona Agarwal finished with a bronze.

She hence becomes the first Indian woman para athlete to own two Paralympic gold medals, being only the second Indian overall to do so after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajaria, who is now accompanying the contingent as the President of Indian Paralympic Association (IPC). For the record, she bettered her own Tokyo record fractionally with a score of 249.7 points on way to gold.

Mona, who hails from Sikar in Rajasthan and dabbles in other disciplines like sitting volleyball, had overtaken Avani after the fifth elimination round. She finally finished on 228.7 points for the bronze.

The new found confidence in Avani was quite apparent on the eve of her sojourn to Paris. Asked about the impact of Manu Bhaker’s double bronze medal performance in Olympics, Avani said in an interview with SAI media: ‘’First of all, I feel proud that we both are shooters. When I won two medals in Tokyo (gold in women’s Air Rifle standing SH1 and bronze in women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1), it was a new awakening for women in sports in India…a barrier was broken. Manu did the same and going forward, I wish more such barriers are broken.’’

The disability class SH1 for both Avani and Mona are defined as follows: For rifle — lower limb impairment e.g. amputations or paraplegia with the ability to hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position.

Never-say-die attitude

If there is a common theme underlying the success story of both these young girls, it’s their never-say-die attitude after life had thrown a curveball at both early on. After a life-altering road accident in 2012 which left her wheelchair-bound, Avani’s father played a crucial role in her recovery, encouraging her to explore sport as a form of physical and mental rehabilitation.

After initially dabbling with archery, Avani was inspired by the journey of Abhinav Bindra and switched to competitive shooting in 2015. She made her mark soon by setting world records at junior & senior levels, establishing herself as a rising star in para shooting and the rest, as they say, is history.

Despite a demanding training schedule as an athlete backed by the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) of the Union sports ministry, she is also committed to her academic pursuits and has enrolled in a five-year law degree programme at the University of Rajasthan.

For Mona, who was afflicted by polio virus at just nine months after birth, the journey was as arduous. After trying her hand in state-level throw events in athletics, para powerlifting, she took up shooting rather late in 2021 but has not looked back since then.

Her natural talent was evident from the start as she surprised all with a national silver medal in 2022. Last year, she had already pushed herself in national reckoning when she claimed a bronze in the mixed team event at her first World Cup and finished sixth at the Asian Para Games in Hang Zhou.

Talk about versatility, Mona had also been a pioneer in sitting volleyball for women in India. She led the Rajasthan team to gold in the first National Sitting Volleyball Championship for women in 2019. Despite being selected for an international tournament, but she couldn’t participate due to her pregnancy.

Meanwhile, she pursued her education to complete a degree in arts and is currently pursuing a Masters in psychology through a distance learning programme. At just 23, she left home to build an independent life, excelling in HR and marketing roles despite the obvious physical challenges and has now added a Paralympic medal to her CV.

Take a bow, girls…