At the age of 11, Avani was involved in a car accident that left her paralysed from the waist down. Now 22, she competed against a world-class field of eight women, accumulating a total score of 420.6 across the three stages: kneeling, prone, and standing.
Although Avani briefly held the lead in the final, she slipped to sixth place by the end of the prone stage, which is not her strongest area due to positioning difficulties, PTI reported.
She performed well in the standing stage, her forte, but an unexpected score of 8.3 hindered her chances of securing a medal.
Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop clinched the gold medal with a total score of 456.5, while Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova secured the silver with a score of 456.1. China’s Zhang took the bronze with a score of 446.0.
Athletes with lower-limb impairment who compete in rifle shooting events are classified as SH1. Here shooters are able to hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or chair).
Avani advanced to the final round of the competition by placing seventh in the qualification round earlier that day. During the qualification, she achieved a cumulative score of 1159.
Mona Agarwal, the other Indian shooter in the event, did not advance past the qualification round and finished in 13th place with a total score of 1147. The top eight shooters from the qualification advanced to the finals.
In the final, Avani had 150.9 points at the end of the kneeling round, placing her in second, with Chinese shooter Cuiping Zhang leading with 151.5 points going into the prone stage.
However, Avani’s performance in the prone round, marked by several sub-10 scores including a 9.2, caused her to drop to sixth place. Although standing is her strong area, the gap with the leaders had widened significantly by the final stage.
Avani shot a 10.6 in the standing round to secure her position ahead of Iryna Shchetnik and avoid elimination. Despite the challenges, Avani concluded another remarkable campaign, becoming the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. She defended her title in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, setting a new Games record with a final score of 249.7.
