After three shooting medals on Day 2, on Saturday Rubina Francis added one more as she clinched the women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 bronze medal. It was India’s fifth medal of the ongoing Games. Rubina, who was a finalist at Tokyo Paralympics and finished 7th, went further this time to clinch the podium finish.
From struggling to stand to a Paralympic medal, a 25-year-old from Jabalpur was born with talipes — commonly known as club foot — and that prevented her from staying steady while shooting at the target. To add to her woes, she wasn’t able to shoot perfectly while sitting. “We tried making her sit and shoot but that would not be perfect,” her coach JP Nautiyal said.
Commemorating her performance, Shri Jagdeep Dhankar, Vice President of India wrote on X, “Heartiest congratulations to Rubina Francis for clinching the bronze medal in the Women’s 10M Air Pistol shooting at #ParisParalympics2024 She becomes India’s first woman to win para shooting medal in pistol events. This remarkable achievement is a result of her perseverance, hard work and discipline. My wishes for all her upcoming endeavours in life”.
There was however, heartbreak in women’s compound archery. First up, second seed Sheetal Devi lost against Tokyo silver medallist Mariana Zuniga in the round of 16, following which Sarita lost out against world champion Oznur Cure. Sheeta will be back for her mixed team event in a couple of days with Rakesh Kumar.
In Para Badminton, Krishna Nagar retired hurt as his title defence came to an early end. And late in the night, with a medal possibly in their sight, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Sivarajan Solaimalai lost the SH6 Mixed Doubles semifinal after taking the lead. Earlier in the day, India were assured of a medal in men’s singles SL4 as Sukant Kadam joined Suhas Yathiraj in the semifinals (and the two will face each other in the semifinals too).
Friday was a productive day for India in terms of medal tally at the Paralympics 2024 in Paris. Avani Lekhara defended her gold from the Tokyo 2021 campaign in the 10m rifle title with Mona Agarwal bagging bronze. Manish Narwal won silver in 10m pistol while Preeti Pal created a slice of history as she became the first Indian ever to win a medal in a sprint event at the Paralympics