Indian para-shooter Rubina Francis secured the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 final on Saturday with a score of 211.1. Francis finished third behind Iran’s Sareh Javanmardi, who took gold, and Turkey’s Aysel Ozgan, who won silver.
Francis started strong, placing second after Stage 1 with a score of 50 points, just 0.1 points behind Javanmardi. However, a dip in her second-stage performance pushed her out of the podium positions. Despite the pressure, the 25-year-old para-shooter did not record a single shot below nine points from her 14th to 21st attempts, regaining her position in the competition. She secured the bronze medal by defeating Turkey’s Aysegul Pehlivanlar in a sudden-death shoot-off.
In the qualification round, Javanmardi led with a total of 570 points, followed by Hungary’s Krisztina David with 567 (17x) and France’s Gaelle Edon with 567 (16x).
Earlier, Swaroop Unhalkar missed out on the men’s 10m air rifle standing (SH1) final, finishing 14th in the qualification round with a score of 613.4.
Francis' bronze is India's fourth medal in shooting at the ongoing Paralympics. Avni Lekhara and Mona Agarwal from Rajasthan had previously won gold and bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle SH1, respectively, while Manish Narwal claimed silver in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 with a score of 234.9. Additionally, para-sprinter Preethi Pal won bronze in the women’s 100m T35 event, bringing the country’s total medal count at the Paralympics to four.