Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a phone call to Avani Lekhara to extend his wishes to the shooter for her historic performance at the ongoing Paralympic Games 2024. Avani defended her gold medal at the Paris Paralympics, winning the top prize in the R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event.
"Avani many congratulations to you. You are constantly performing well and keep working hard," the Prime Minister said on the phone call to Avani. The shooter thanked the PM, saying that his advice helped her to play in pressure.
"This is my second Paralympics. I was a bit nervous. But you said that don’t play under the pressure of expectations and I followed it accordingly," the shooter said.
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Modi held a telephonic conversation with other medal winners at the Paris Paralympics too. He interacted with silver medal-winning shooter Manish Narwal, and bronze medallists Rubina Francis and Preethi Pal.
India has sent its largest-ever athlete contingent comprising of 84 athletes for the Paris Games. The contingent is looking to register its best-ever medal haul at the Summer Games, aiming to go past its previous best of 19 medals in Tokyo.
India has clinched nine medals till now with two additions on 2nd September. Yogesh Kathuniya won a silver medal in the Men's Discus Throw - F56 final, while Nitesh Kumar clinched gold in the men's singles SL3 event.
Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal were the first ones to bag medals at the ongoing Summer Games. Avani won gold while Mona took bronze in the R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1. Manish Narwal took home a silver in the P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 category, while Rubina Francis was the latest shooter to bag a medal. She clinched a bronze in the P2 - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event. Preethi Pal became India's first track medallist at the Paralympics as she won a bronze in the Women's 100m - T35 category.
