Chateauroux [France], September 3 : India shooter Avani Lekhara fell short of another medal at the Paris Paralympics following her exit from the women's 50m rifle 3P SH1 final on Tuesday.
Germany's Natascha Hiltrop reigned supreme and took away the gold medal with a tally of 456.5 points. Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova marginally fell short of gold after finishing in the second spot with 456.1 points. China's Zhang Cuiping settled for the bronze medal with a tally of 446.0 points.
Avani stood on the verge of becoming the second India athlete at the Paris Paralympics to win two medals after Preeti Pal. She opened India's gold medal account following her triumph in the women's 10m air rifle final. She successfully defended her gold medal but couldn't add another to India's medal tally.
After series one in kneeling, Avani was tied with Veronika Vadovicova and Zhang Cuiping at first with a total of 51.1.
After the conclusion of the second series, Avani dropped to fifth with a total of 100 points. The Indian para-shooter scored 9.2, 9.0 and 9.9 in her 7th, 8th and 9th shot in kneeling.
Avani scores a total of 150.9 after three series in the kneeling position. The Indian Paralympic gold medal winner is currently second behind China's Zhang Cuiping. In the third series, Avani climbed to the second spot with a total of 150.9 points and trailed behind China's Zhang.
All shooters had seven minutes before the prone stage began. Just like in the kneeling stage, all shooters had three series of five shots each in the prone stage as well.
After the first series in the prone position, Avani accumulated 50.6 points and dropped to the third spot. At the end of the second series in the prone position, Avani's hope for a second medal at the Paris Paralympics dampened after she shot 9.1 and 9.8 and dropped to sixth with a total score of 261.5.
At the end of the third series in the prone position, Avani stayed in the sixth position with a total score of 301.5 points.
All shooters had nine minutes to prepare themselves before the standing position stage kicked off. In the first series of the standing stage, Avani's slump continued after pressure got to her, and she shot 8.3 at the end and ended with a score of 48.8.
In the second series of standing position, she tried to improve her position by shooting 50.4 and taking her overall score to 400.7 points.
With six shooters remaining in the elimination round, Avani shot 10.6, which took her total to 411.6. Ukraine's Shchetnik shot 10.5, which wasn't enough to take her total higher than that of Avani. Shchetnik's campaign concluded in the sixth position. Avani's campaign concluded and finished in the fifth position after shooting 9.3. Avani's campaign ended with a tally of 420.6.
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