Paralysed at 11, no muscle movement since March: Golden girl Avani’s journey

The wheelchair is not the first thing you notice in Avani Lekhara. Her brimming smile outdoes everything, exuding confidence like nothing else. The fact that she wears modesty as a natural ornament despite reaching heights no other Indian athlete has reached at the Paralympics is also unmissable. Her tone hardly carries any trace of her achievements in the shooting arena and yet carries the confidence of an athlete who knows her strengths but is also aware that her best is yet to come.
Yes, even after becoming the first Indian to win back-to-back golds at the Paralympics, Avani Lekhara gives the impression that she has just started. The 22-year-old Avani, paralysed waist-down owing to a car accident as an 11-year-old, claimed the landmark gold in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) shooting competition in Chateauroux. She successfully defended her title after taking the Tokyo Games by storm.
Avani said while she has already shifted her focus on the next events — women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 and mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 — she had to overcome the challenge of a surgery earlier this year.
“I had a surgery in March and I was off the range, I was not practising.… mentally (it) hampered me because I was not training months away from the Paralympics,” Avani said, talking about her gall bladder surgery.
“Even though it’s a small surgery, a lot of core muscles weren’t working the way they were before and so I had to work on that more. My team worked heavily to get me back on track for Paris,” she said.”I have four more matches to go so and I am going to give my best in all so let’s see how it goes,” she added.
The champion shooter from Jaipur endured a tough buildup to the Paris Games.
She grappled with a host of health issues, including a gallbladder surgery in March after the pain became unbearable, which forced her to take a break of one and half months.
But the committed shooter, who is an assistant conservator of forest with the Rajasthan government, did not let health concerns distract her from her aim of more glory on the grandest stage.
She lost quite a bit of weight following the surgery but the determination to overcome all odds was all too evident during the national camp at the Karni Singh ranges, where she worked hard on regaining her strength and mentally steeling herself for Paris.
Avani carved out a niche for herself by triumphing in a final which went down to the wire, shooting 249.7 to erase her own Paralympic record of 249.6 set in the Japanese capital in the summer of 2021.
Avani took the gold medal ahead of Korea’s Lee Yunri, who shot 246.8 to win silver and compatriot Mona, who claimed bronze with a final score of 228.7.
It was the first time India had a double podium finish in the same event at the Paralympic Games.
Avani also became the second Indian after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia to win two gold medals at the Games.
However, unlike Jhajharia, who is now heading the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), Avani has achieved the feat across back-to-back Games.