Paralympics 2024 in Paris: Avani Lekhara finishes fifth in the three-position final of the women's 50 m rifle shooting

Top Indian shooter Avani Lekhara missed out on her second medal of the ongoing Paralympics, finishing fifth after putting up a strong fight in the final of the women's 50m rifle SH1 three positions event on Tuesday. Avani, 22, who is paralysed from the waist down following a car accident she suffered as an 11-year-old, shot a total of 420.6 points in the three rounds of kneeling, prone and standing in a world-class field of eight women. Germany's Natascha Hiltrop won gold with a total of 456.5 points, Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova took silver with 456.1 points and China's Zhang shot 446.0 points to secure bronze.

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

The top Indian swimmer did well in the standing shooting, her strength, but then an unexpected 8.3 did not help her.

The SH1 class is intended for athletes with disabilities of the lower limbs for competitive rifle shooting. Here, shooters can hold their rifle without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or on a chair).

Previously, Avani had reached the final of the competition after finishing the qualification in seventh place. Avani shot a total of 1159 points in the qualification.

However, the other Indian shooter in the competition, Mona Agarwal, was unable to clear the qualification hurdle and ended up in 13th place. Mona scored a total of 1147 points.

The best eight shooters from the qualification advanced to the final.

In the final, Avani had 150.9 points at the end of the kneeling round and took second place, while Chinese shooter Cuiping Zhang (151.5) led the field before the prone shooting.

For Avani, however, the situation changed drastically in the prone shooting, where she dropped to sixth place with several scores below 10, including a 9.2.

Standing shooting is undoubtedly their strength, but as the final entered its final phase, the gap to the leaders had already become too large.

She shot a 10.6 and thus avoided elimination ahead of Iryna Shchetnik.

Avani will, however, return home after another outstanding season in which she became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics.

She won the top prize in the Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 competition, successfully defending the title she won in Tokyo three years ago with a new Games record of 249.7 points in the final.