Avani Lekhara won bronze in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 event with a score of 445.9 to become the first Indian woman to win two medals at the Paralympics. China's Zhang Cuiping won gold with a Paralympic Record score of 457.9, while Germany's Natascha Hiltrop took silver with a score of 457.1. Lekhara had also won gold in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 event.
The first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics was Deepa Malik in the women's shot put F53 at the 2016 Games. Two Indian women have clinched medals at the Tokyo Paralympics in Lekhara and Bhavina Patel. Bhavina won silver in the women's table tennis C4.
India's medal tally now stands at 12 at these Paralympics. It has now won two golds, six silvers and four bronze medals. This is India's best tally at a single edition of the Para Games. It had won four medals at Rio 2016 and four at the 1984 Paralympics.
Earlier, Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal after she equalled the world record with a score of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle standing finals (SH 1).
Avani qualified for the final finishing seventh in the qualification round with a total score of 621.7. In the finals, she showed her mettle, scoring 10 and above with all but four shots.
"I can't describe this feeling, I'm feeling like I'm on top of the world. It's unexplainable," Lekhara said after winning gold.
"I'm so happy I could be the one to contribute it. Hopefully there's a lot of medals more to come. I was just saying one thing, that I have to take one shot at a time. There's nothing else that matters now, just take one shot at a time and just finish it.
"I just think that I have to follow the process. Beyond that, I try not to think about the score or the medal tally."
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