Tokyo Paralympics: Rubina Francis in Final of Women's 10m Air Pistol

India won a Gold medal in shooting on Sunday through Avani Lekhara.

India's Rubina Francis in action during the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Image:IANS

India's Rubina Francis has qualified for the final in P2 - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1, finishing seventh in the qualifying round here on Tuesday.

Rubina shot 91, 96, 95, 92, 93, 93 in the six rounds of 10 shots and tied for the sixth spot with South Korea's Kim Youn-mi at 560 points. But the Korean shooter took the sixth spot with 14 shots in bullseye while Rubina had only 12.

Iran's Sareh Javanmardi topped the qualifying round with a score of 572, a new Paralympic Games record for qualifying round. Hungary's Krisztina David was placed second with a score of 570 with Turkish duo Ayesegul Pehlivanlar (564) and Ayset Ozan (563) following third and fourth. Ukraine's Iryna Liakhu was fifth with a score of 561.

Rubina, the 22-year-old from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, had set the World Record in the finals at the World Cup in Lima, Peru in June. She was born with an impairment to her leg.

In May 2021, she was one of a number of Indian para shooters to contract COVID-19 while at the national training camp. She was unable to train for more than a month, until days before the World Cup event in Lima, Peru, where she won gold in the women's SH1 10m air pistol and secured a quota place for India for Tokyo.

Incidentally, both Avani Lekhara, who won gold in women's 10m air rifle standing on Monday, and Swaroop Unhalkar, who finished fourth in R2 - Men's 10m Air Rifle Standing, had also finished seventh in the qualifying round.

India is expecting a good haul of medals from the Tokyo Paralympic Games.