After excelling in the R-2 women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event in Tokyo, Japan, 19-year-old Avani Lekhara set a record as the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics. The shooter from Jaipur equaled the world record and set a new Paralympic record with a final score of 249.6.
Avani was a gifted dancer as a child, winning numerous honors and awards. However, her spinal cord was severely injured in a vehicle accident in 2012, and she began to use a wheelchair as a result. Avani chose to try out new sports that she thought she would be great at, without reconsidering the changes that were brought into her life as a result of that one tragic tragedy. She even explored archery before settling on shooting after reading Abhinav Bindra’s story, A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold, by India’s first Olympic gold medalist.
Her first rifle experience was in 2015 at the Jagatpura Sports Complex in Jaipur, and thanks to the dedication and hard work she put into her art, she was able to make her international debut in the Para Shooting World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, in only two years (2017). Her international career began with a silver medal as well. In 2019, she won another silver medal at the Para Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia. In March of this year, Avani won her first gold medal in the women’s R2 10m air rifle women’s SH1 event at the inaugural National Para-shooting Championships.
