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Updated September 12th, 2021 at 21:07 IST

Avani Lekhara looks back at successful Games after bagging gold in Tokyo Paralympics

Avani Lekhara won gold and bronze in Tokyo Paralympics. She recently took to social media to express her joy and looked back at her journey at the Games.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
Avani Lekhara
Image: AP | Image:self
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The Tokyo Paralympics concluded on September 5, with some epic performances of athletes from all around the world. For Team India, the Tokyo Paralympics turned out to be historic as its athletes won 19 medals, including five gold that helped them sign off 24th in the overall tally - the highest ever. Nineteen-year-old shooter Avani Lekhara won a gold and bronze medal in the mega-sporting event. She recently took to social media to express her joy and said that looking back at the Paralympics, she still feels surreal.

For the Paralympian, the feeling has still not sunk in and of course she there is happiness within her she added. She then said that a sense of satisfaction has come through perfectly, after her amazing effort and all the hard work her team had put into the training sessions. She also added that she is very grateful for all the messages of good wishes and support. Lastly, she said that "dreams do come true".

Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in women's 10m Air Rifle SH1

The Indian contingent has had an outstanding outing so far at the Tokyo Paralympics as they have won 17 medals (four gold, seven silver, six bronze) in total. Avani Lekhara opened Team India's gold medal account on August 30, the same day Sumit Antil also won a gold medal. It was not the easiest of wins for Lekhara, who had just scraped through the qualifiers. However, the day of the final, when it mattered most, she seemed unassailable. The Indian shooter began the final with scores of 52.0, 51.3, and 21.6 in the first three shots. She then ended the event with scores of 21.2, 20.1, and 20.5 to win the country's first gold medal at the Paralympics. 

PCI President Deepa Malik took to her Twitter handle and shared a video of Avani Lekhara leading Team India's contingent as the flag-bearer in the Tokyo Paralympics closing ceremony. Deepa Malik also shared that Avani Lekhara is the first Indian woman who marched with the Tricolour at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Since making its first appearance at the Paralympics in 1968, India had won 12 medals in total till the 2016 Rio edition. The country has now massively improved upon that entire number by 7 medals at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 alone. Out of a total of 162 nations, India has finished 24th in the overall medal tally, while its accomplishment of 19 medals is ranked 20th based on the number of medals.

(Image: AP)

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Published September 12th, 2021 at 21:07 IST

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