Paralympics: Double delight for Avani and Lakshya

Bengaluru, September 2: It was double delight for para shooter Avani Lekhara and the Mumbai-based Lakshya Shooting Club as the 19-year-old prodigy followed up her gold-medal winning effort with a bronze at Paralympics, incidentally becoming the first Indian woman to win two medals at the Games.

It may be recalled that on Monday (August 30), the 19-year-old, who is a trainee of Olympian shooter Suma Shirur at Lakshya, had created history in Tokyo when she became the first Indian woman athlete to win a Paralympics gold with her total of 249.6 in the 10M Air Rifle Standing SH1.

And on Friday (September 3), the 19-year-old promising para shooter added the Women's 50M Rifle 3 Positions SH1 bronze to her ever-swelling collection with a score of 445.9.

Avani Lekhara clinches bronze, becomes first Indian woman to win two medals Avani Lekhara clinches bronze, becomes first Indian woman to win two medals

Only once before has an Indian athlete won multiple medals at the Paralympics -- Joginder Singh Bedi won a silver in men's shot put and a bronze each in discus throw and javelin at the 1984 Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Cynosure of all

Avani's second medal in Tokyo is also India's third from the shooting range and 12th overall. The Jaipur-born para shooter climbed from sixth position at one stage to finish third in the finals with 445.9 points behind China's Cuiping Zhang of China (457.9, a Paralympic Record) and Germany's Natasha Hiltrop (457.1).

Soon after her bronze medal effort, Avani was the cynosure of all eyes in Tokyo as everyone at the shooting range greeted her for her feat. Talking from Tokyo, Avani said, "It's an amazing experience to win two medals in my first Paralympic Games. These two are my pet events. I was really working hard for these two for so many months. I gave my 100 per cent in the last shot."

Suma all praise for Avani

When asked what she felt about becoming the first Indian ever to win two medals at a single Olympic/Paralympic Games, Avani said, "It feels very nice. I want to thank all for the loving support I've been receiving for the last few days. I couldn't reply to each and every one of them for their lovely messages. I've been preparing for this medal today. Thank you very much."

Suma was pleased with Avani's performance, "I'm very very happy with her win today, especially with her qualification. She shot her personal best score, which is also a World Record. Her score of 1176 is phenomenal. I'm extremely happy for Avani and finishing with a medal, you can't ask for more. And to win her second second medal at the Paralympics, that makes everything worth it. I'm so very happy."

The Lakshya connection

While conceptually the Olympic and Paralympic 3 Position events are similar, the actual execution is from the seating position, like Avani does. Suma is more familiar with coaching the normal shooters.

For her to coach Avani at Para events, Suma had to learn the nuances of it. Suma designed a special 15M simulated Megalink 3D Score Electronic targets. "This novel system was developed by Megalink for multiple Olympic gold medallist Niccolo Campriani way back in his university days in the United States. His college did not have a proper 50M range, but had a multi-purpose hall that was 15M long. It is well known by now that the Norwegian company developed the 15m target to simulate the 50m distance and the size of the 22 bullet. The masterstroke worked wonders and was a great training tool for Niccolò. The rest is history as we know that he won the 3 Position gold medals in both London 2012 and Rio 2016."

Same targets

"Lakshya Shooting Club also has employed the same targets and the likes of Avani Lekhara, Aishwary Pratap Tomar and Sunidhi Chauhan have been training on this novel system and reaping its benefits. This training system allows me to have a close look at my wards under controlled indoor conditions and is extremely beneficial for fine tuning. Once the shooter perfects the technique under controlled conditions, the next step is to become adept at managing the effects of wind in external conditions that can be done only in a regular outdoor 50m range. But what the 15M novel target does is that it helps in consolidating the technique without external weather influences. The shooter has no scope of blaming the wind and every single shot gives true feedback to the coach," added Suma from Tokyo.

Avani has a chance to complete a hat-trick of medals on Sunday (September 5), the concluding day of Paralympics 2020 when the Lakshya -product, along with Deepak Saini and Sidhartha Babu compete in the Mixed 50M rifle prone SH1 category.