19-year-old shooter Avani becomes first Indian woman to win a gold medal at Paralympics

Tokyo: Avani Lekhara won India's first medal in shooting at the Tokyo Paralympics in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event on Monday. Lekhara won the gold medal with a total score of 249.6 in the final, equalling the world record. This is India's fourth medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games so far.

She qualified for the final finishing 7th in the qualification round with a total score of 621.7. Avani staged a good recovery after a slow start to advance to the finals of the showpiece event.

She registered good scores of 104.9, 104.8 in her third and fourth attempt to be in the game before scoring 104.1 in the final round of qualification. The Indian shooter will now lock horns in the finals of the showpiece event.