Para Asian Games: Mona Agarwal, Avani Lekhara secure gold, silver in 10m air rifle standing

Toyota, October 19 (IANS): Indian shooters Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara clinched gold and silver medals in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event at the Aichi Pref. General Shooting Gallery here on Monday.Mona shot an Asian Para Games record score of 250 to bag the gold, while Avani shot 249.6 to win the silver as India opened their medal tally in the ongoing Games.Mona made a brilliant comeback in the final after she was reeling in the fifth place to storm into the podium positions before fending off the challenge from others to win the coveted gold. Behind Mona and Avani, South Korea's Yunri Lee won the bronze with a score of 227.9.Mona broke her compatriot Avani's Asiad Para Games record of 249.6 that the shooter had set while winning the gold in the previous Games in Hangzhou. She missed out on the world record of 252 held by Slovakia's Iryna Shchetnik.With this performance, Avani has also secured the quota place for the 2028 Paralympic Games. Mona had secured her spot last month during the World Championships.Earlier in the day, Mona and Avani had topped the qualification round too. Mona led the field with 629.1 points after six series, setting a new Asian Para Games qualification record and surpassing the previous mark held by China's Zhang Cuiping. The Indian shooter came agonisingly close to the world record of 629.4, jointly held by compatriot Avani and Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova.Avani, meanwhile, accumulated 626.4 points to finish second in the qualification standings, ensuring a one-two finish for India heading into the medal-deciding round.Meanwhile, Mona had secured India's first quota place for the Los Angeles Paralympic Games last month at the WSPS World Championships in Changwon. Mona, the 2024 Paris Paralympics' bronze medallist, finished second with a score of 250 in the R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event. Behind her, Avani, the Paris Games' gold medallist, clinched bronze with a score of 229.4 in Changwon in a double-podium finish for India. Serbia's Kristina Trifunovic won the gold with a score of 250.2.Mona has a bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Games, while Avani is a three-time medallist at the Games. She won a bronze in 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 during the Toyko Games and then a gold in the 10m air rifle SH1 in the same edition. She won the gold in the Paris Paralympics in the 10m air rifle SH1.