India’s legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has congratulated the para athletes who won medals at the Paris Paralympics. Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympic Games, who won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) event at the Paris Paralympics after Tokyo. Mona Agarwal made the day memorable by winning the bronze medal in this event. Manish Narwal missed out on winning the gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1) event, but Preeti Pal won the bronze medal in the women’s T35 category 100m event with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds, giving India its first athletics medal in the track event of the Paralympics.
Sachin Tendulkar wrote on x, “Gold in Tokyo, Gold in Paris @AvniLekhara @Abhinandan …
He further said, ‘Many congratulations to Mona Agarwal for bronze in the same event and many congratulations to Manish Narwal for winning silver in men’s 10m air rifle shooting after winning gold in Tokyo. Our list of achievements also includes the name of Preeti Pal, who has won a bronze medal in the 100m sprint. All your performances have made India proud in many events.”
India won two medals in shooting, Avni won gold and Mona won bronze
22-year-old Avni, who won gold in Tokyo three years ago, broke her own record of 249.6 by scoring 249.7. Mona, who made her debut in shooting two years ago after shotput, powerlifting and wheelchair volleyball, won the bronze medal with a score of 228.7. For the first time in India’s Paralympic history, two shooters have won medals in the same event.
Avni, a resident of Jaipur, was battling health problems before the Paralympics. She had to undergo a surgery on her gall bladder due to which she had to take a break for one and a half months. She also lost a lot of weight due to the surgery but she bravely faced all the difficulties and hoisted the Indian flag in Paris.
Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Manish Narwal won the silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1) event at the Paris Paralympics. Twenty-two-year-old Narwal won the gold medal in the mixed 50m pistol SH1 event at the Tokyo Paralympics. He was leading for some time but due to some bad shots, he fell behind Jo Jeongdu of South Korea. Manish, the elder brother of Indian shooter Shiva Narwal, scored 234.9 while Jeongdu scored 237.4 to win the gold medal. Preeti Pal won the bronze medal in the women’s T35 category 100m event with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds, giving India its first athletics medal in a track event at the Paralympics. All the medals India has won in athletics since the 1984 stage have been in field events.