Avani finishes 5th in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Chateauroux: A ceIndian shooter Avani Lekhara missed out on a second medal at the ongoing Paralympic Games and finished fifth after putting up a strong fight in the final of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition here on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Avani, paralysed waist-down owing to a car accident she suffered as an 11-year-old, shot a total of 420.6 across the three stages of kneeling, prone and standing in a world-class eight-woman field. Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop won the gold with a total of 456.5, Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova claimed silver with 456.1, and China’s Zhang shot 446.0 to bag the bronze.

She led the final briefly but slipped to sixth place at the end of the prone stage, which is not her strong area as it causes her problems owing to positioning. The Indian ace was doing well in the standing stage, her strong suit, but then an unexpected 8.3 did not help her cause.

Earlier in the day, Avani entered the final of the competition after finishing the qualification in seventh place. Avani shot a total of 1159 in the qualification.

Bhagyashri ends fifth in F34 women’s shot put:

India’s Bhagyashri Jadhav finished fifth in the women’s shot put (F34) at the Paralympics here on Tuesday. Jadhav, making her second appearance at the Paralympics, produced a throw of 7.28m but it was not enough for a podium

finish. China’s Lijuan Zou won the gold with a season best of 9.14m while Poland’s Lucyna Kornobys secured the silver with an effort of 8.33m. The 39-year-old Indian hails from Nanded district in Maharashtra. She slipped into depression after losing the use of her legs due to an accident in 2006. With encouragement from friends and family, she took to para sport. Athletes in the F34 class have to deal with co-ordination impairments including hypertonia (stiff muscles), ataxia (poor muscle control) and athetosis (slow, writhing movement of the limbs or trunk).