NAGOYA: Indian para shooters Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara secured a double-podium finish in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the 2026 Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday, with Mona clinching gold and Avani taking silver. The duo’s performance earned India its first medals of the competition.
Agarwal also set a new Asian Para Games record with her gold-medal-winning score of 250 after the seventh series, surpassing the previous record of 249.6 set by Lekhara at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.
Meanwhile, Lekhara secured the silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the 2026 Asian Para Games with a score of 249.6 after the seventh series.
While the women’s 10m air rifle final saw India secure a 1-2 finish, the men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final ended without a medal for the country. Mahavir Swaroop Unhalkar finished fourth with a score of 205.9, exiting after the fifth series, while debutant Rakesh Nidagundi secured seventh place with 141.5 points.
Earlier on the day, Mona Agarwal also set a new Asian Para Games qualification record to top the women's 10m air rifle qualifications event, while compatriot Avani Lekhara finished second.
Agarwal topped the qualification round at the 2026 Asian Para Games, setting a new continental record with a score of 629.1 after Series 6. She surpassed the previous Asian Para Games qualification record held by China’s Zhang Cuiping but narrowly missed the world record of 629.4, jointly held by India's Avani Lekhara and Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova.
Lekhara finished second in the qualification round with a total score of 626.4, ensuring India's strong showing in the event heading into the finals.
Meanwhile, in the men's 10m air rifle qualifications event, Nidagundi and Unhalkar secured qualification for the finals after finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Nidagundi scored 619.3, while Unhalkar registered 617.4 after Series 6. However, India's Anandha Krishnan missed out on qualification, finishing 13th with a score of 605.2..
