Nagoya: Trailblazing Indian para-shooter Mona Agarwal produced a terrific show to shatter the world record and win the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition at the Asian Para Games here on Friday.
She shot 357.5 at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery to set the new record and claim her second gold medal of the mega-event.
The previous world record of 356 was set by Sweden's Anna Benson in Novi Sad in July this year. Agarwal, who secured India's first 2028 Paralympic quota earlier this year, also bettered the Asian record of 355.7, set by South Korea's Lee Yunri in Changwon last month.
China's Zhang Cuiping took silver with 353.7, while South Korea's Kim Miyoung won bronze with 344.4. Agarwal's compatriot Avani Lekhara finished fourth with 333.2.
The 38-year-old Agarwal began the final with a cumulative 101.4 in the kneeling series and moved to 203.5 after the prone series. She then reached 256.5 and 307.3 in the first two standing series.
In the closing stretch, she shot 317.7, 328.0, 338.1 and 347.7 before a 357.5 in the final series.
The SH1 category in Paralympic shooting is for athletes with lower-limb or upper-limb impairments who can support the weight of the firearm with their own arms without needing a gun stand or gallows.
Earlier, Agarwal had won gold in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event with a Games-record score of 250.0, while Lekhara bagged silver with 249.6 points.
Born in Sikar, Rajasthan, and now based in Jaipur, Agarwal contracted polio when she was just nine months old, which affected both her lower limbs and left her dependent on a wheelchair.
Growing up as the third daughter in the family, she faced societal stigma over her her disability from an early age. However, she refused to be defined by it.
Before turning to shooting, she competed at the state level in shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and weightlifting. A mother of two, she took up rifle shooting in December 2021 at a local academy in Jaipur.
Her rise was swift. She won a bronze in the mixed team event on her World Cup debut in Osijek, Croatia, in 2023.
In her fourth international event, the World Cup in New Delhi in 2024, she won gold with an Asian record and secured a Paralympic quota for India.
She then won bronze in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event on her Paralympic debut in Paris in 2024.