Avani Lekhara: 'Never Thought About Making History, But Grateful I Could Break Barriers For Women'

Avani Lekhara on Friday became the first Indian to win gold medals at successive Paralympics when she retained her women's 10m air rifle (SH1) title in Paris. She also became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. (Full Paralympics Coverage | More Sports News)

Was the 22-year-old thinking about these historic achievements while taking aim at her target in the women's 10m air rifle (SH1) final?

'No,' was her answer when asked this question during a media interaction after she created history.

"I never really thought about that actually. I was just thinking that let us just go and give the best, " Avani said. "I am happy that I won the medal for my country and broke barriers for other women in the country, they can look up and see 'okay, women can also win gold in India', and I am grateful that I was the first one to achieve that."

Winner of the Tokyo Paralympics gold three years back, Avani shot a superb 249.7 on Friday to erase her own Paralympic record of 249.6 set in the Japanese capital three years back.

The SH1 category is for athletes who have movement affected in their arms, lower trunk, legs or have no limbs. After a road accident when she was 11-year-old, Avani was left paralysed below her waist.

Earlier this year, she had to get a surgery done which brought its own kind of challenges.

The 22-year-old also talked about these health setbacks from which she emerged in the run-up to the Paralympics.

"I had a surgery in March and I was off the range, I was not practising.… mentally (it) hampered me because I was not training months away from the Paralympics," Avani said. "Even though it's a small surgery, a lot of core muscles weren't working the way they were before and so I had to work on that more. My team worked heavily to get me back on track for Paris."

Avani lost a lot of weight after her surgery but recovered well within time to follow up on her exception Tokyo performance with another gold in Paris.

The 37-year-old Mona also notched up 228.7 for a third-place finish, making it the first time in Paralympics history that two shooters from India will be on the podium at the same time.

Mona also talked about how she took up different sports and finally settled on shooting.

"Before 2016, I was not even aware that you can participate in Paralympic Games. When i realised that I can participate then I tried finding out with my disability which game i perform the best. So, between three or four games I chose shooting."

Mona dabbled in several sports including shot-put, powerlifting and wheelchair volleyball before settling on shooting.

Both Avani and Mona have events remaining at the Paris Paralympics and can bring more glory.