Mona Agarwal wins Asian Para Games gold with record 250.0 as Avani Lekhara takes silver

Rajasthan shooters give India a golden start in Nagoya

Mona Agarwal climbed from sixth place to win the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 title with an Asian Para Games record of 250.0 points in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday, October 19, 2026. Fellow Indian Avani Lekhara took silver with 249.6, giving India the first two places and its opening medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

The difference was just 0.4 points. Lekhara, the defending champion and twice a Paralympic gold medallist, matched the score that had won her the previous Asian Para Games title. This time, Agarwal went higher. South Korea's Lee Yunri finished third with 227.9.

Agarwal, 38, from Sikar in Rajasthan, had already set a Games qualification record earlier in the day. Her 629.1 points put her ahead of Lekhara's 626.4 and only 0.3 below the qualification world record of 629.4 jointly held by Lekhara and Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova.

The result brought together two shooters who had shared the podium at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, where Lekhara won gold and Agarwal bronze. In Nagoya, their positions changed, while India again collected two medals in the same event.

For Agarwal, the victory continued a rapid rise since she began competitive rifle shooting in December 2021. For Lekhara, 24, another international medal came with the narrow disappointment of matching her previous winning performance and finishing second. Their contest also helped launch an Indian opening day that produced 11 medals across shooting, athletics, judo and swimming.

How Agarwal recovered from sixth place

Lekhara made the stronger start. She opened with a 10.8, compared with Agarwal's 10.1, and reached 53.2 after the first five shots. After 10 shots, Lekhara had 104.8 and Agarwal 102.9, leaving the eventual champion sixth and 1.9 points behind her compatriot.

Agarwal recovered during the elimination phase, when the lowest ranked competitors leave the final at set intervals. Surviving each elimination kept her in contention, and her later shooting brought her past Lekhara to the top of the standings.

The decisive comparison is between the early deficit and the final margin: Agarwal moved from 1.9 points behind Lekhara after 10 shots to 0.4 ahead at the finish. Their relative positions changed by 2.3 points over the remainder of the contest.

Lekhara also faced pressure from Lee and Kazakhstan's Aigerim Tulegenova during the final. She secured silver, while Agarwal completed her comeback with the Games record. The published accounts give conflicting running totals and shot sequences near the finish, so the precise order of the final exchanges remains uncertain.

Two records from two different rounds

Agarwal's 629.1 in qualification broke the Asian Para Games qualification record previously held by China's Zhang Cuiping. She finished 2.7 points ahead of Lekhara, who qualified second with 626.4.

Qualification and the final are separate contests with different totals. Qualification determines who advances; the finalists then begin again from zero. Agarwal therefore had to rebuild her challenge after a difficult start, despite having led the earlier round.

The qualification world record of 629.4 was just 0.3 points beyond Agarwal's score. Her final total of 250.0 improved the previous Games final record of 249.6 by 0.4. Those records belong to different rounds and are measured against different scoring totals.

Lekhara had set the earlier final record at the Hangzhou edition, officially named the 2022 Asian Para Games but held in 2023. She reproduced that score in Nagoya, making the result a particularly clear measure of Agarwal's improvement on the previous Games standard.

Agarwal had also recorded higher final scores at other competitions, including 250.7 at the New Delhi World Cup in March 2024 and 250.8 at Changwon on April 24, 2024. Her Nagoya achievement was a record specifically for the Asian Para Games.

What SH1 means in this event

The SH1 category includes rifle shooters with impairments affecting their lower limbs who can support the rifle themselves. The classification groups athletes according to how their impairment affects participation in the sport.

The word standing describes the shooting event and position under its rules. Eligible athletes can compete while seated, including from a wheelchair. Lekhara has used a wheelchair since a road accident in 2012; Agarwal contracted polio at nine months of age, affecting both lower limbs.

Air rifle scoring includes decimal points, which is why a single shot can earn 10.8 rather than simply 10. The decimal records how close the shot comes to the centre of the target. Across a final, small differences accumulate, allowing two shooters to remain separated by only fractions of a point.

Lee's bronze total of 227.9 came before the two remaining shooters completed their contest for gold. Because finalists leave through elimination, the podium totals reflect different points of exit from the competition, rather than three athletes necessarily completing the same number of shots.

A shooting career that began after her son's birth

Agarwal gave birth to her son in April 2021 and began shooting competitively that December. A mother of two, she reached the Paris Paralympic podium less than three years after taking up the discipline.

Sport was already part of her life. She had tried para athletics, para powerlifting and swimming, and captained Rajasthan's women's sitting volleyball team to gold at the inaugural National Sitting Volleyball Championship in 2019.

Agarwal won a national shooting silver in 2022, followed by a mixed team bronze at the 2023 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Osijek, Croatia. Her international results subsequently included individual gold at Changwon and the New Delhi victory that secured a place for India at the Paris Paralympics.

Family support helped make that transition possible. Agarwal has credited her grandmother and mother-in-law with supporting her sporting career. She also faced financial pressure during preparations for Paris and borrowed money to continue pursuing shooting.

Her progress from sitting volleyball to Paralympic bronze and now Asian Para Games gold unfolded across several distinct stages:

• 2019: Captained Rajasthan to national gold in women's sitting volleyball.
• December 2021: Began competitive rifle shooting.
• 2022: Won a national shooting silver medal.
• 2023: Earned mixed team World Cup bronze in Osijek.
• March 2024: Won New Delhi World Cup gold with 250.7 and secured a Paris Paralympic quota place for India.
• Paris 2024: Won women's 10m air rifle SH1 bronze.
• October 19, 2026: Won Asian Para Games gold with a Games record of 250.0.

Lekhara adds another medal and a place for India

Lekhara arrived in Nagoya as the defending Asian Para Games champion. Her career already included gold and bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, followed by another gold in Paris in 2024.

The Jaipur shooter, who has studied law at Rajasthan University, has received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Padma Shri. In Nagoya, she finished second in both qualification and the final, maintaining her place among the leading competitors in the event.

Her silver was also credited with securing India's second quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics. Agarwal had already earned a quota through silver at the World Shooting Para Sport Championships in Changwon the previous month.

A quota is an entry place for a country at the Paralympics. It gives India another opportunity to field an athlete, with the eventual team subject to the applicable selection rules.

Modi praises precision and consistency

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated both shooters through messages published by the Prime Minister's Office. He praised Agarwal's record and the qualities behind her performance.

Her precision, determination and composure are truly commendable.

Modi also congratulated Lekhara on silver and recognised her repeated success in international competition.

Her consistency and determination continue to make the nation proud.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and state Sports Minister Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also congratulated the pair. Sharma celebrated the achievement of the two athletes from Rajasthan, while Rathore praised their skill and determination.

Agarwal had said before the Games that she planned to compete in the R2 and R8 events. She described a squad of 13 shooters working together with support from the government, the Sports Authority of India, the Paralympic Committee of India and private sponsors.

Success arrives amid debate over selection

Agarwal's preparations took place against a wider dispute over selection in Indian para sport. Some para shooters and cyclists had protested in Delhi, alleging favouritism, irregularities and changes to selection policies at a late stage.

Agarwal expressed confidence in the Paralympic Committee of India and its trials, while also saying its policies needed to become more transparent and stronger. Her position combined support for the selection process she experienced with a call for clearer rules.

She and para shooting official Shivam Tyagi also rejected allegations that chief coach J.P. Nautiyal had sought 20 percent payments from athletes. Agarwal said he had never made such a demand of her. Tyagi said the team's focus was on the Games and described the support provided by the Sports Authority of India.

India finishes the opening day with 11 medals

India ended the opening day fourth in the medal table with four golds, five silvers and two bronzes. Agarwal and Lekhara contributed two of those 11 medals, with the other three golds coming in athletics.

Nishad Kumar won the men's T47 long jump with 7.11 metres in his first international competition in the event. Soumya took the women's T12/T13 1500m title in a personal best of 5 minutes 12.39 seconds, ahead of India's Venkatesh Radha in 5 minutes 30.90 seconds.

Rinku and Ajeet Singh produced another Indian sweep of the first two places in the men's F46 javelin. Rinku threw 65.11 metres and Singh 65.02, a difference of just nine centimetres. Both achieved their best performances of the season.

Kokila won judo silver in the women's J2 category at 52 kilograms, and Kapil Parmar took bronze in the men's J1 category at 70 kilograms. Ravi Karthik Budigina added swimming silver with 56.68 seconds in the men's 100m freestyle S13.

India's men missed the shooting podium. Mahavir Swaroop Unhalkar finished fourth in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 final with 205.9, while Rakesh Nidagundi placed seventh with 141.5. Anandha Krishnan had finished 13th in qualification with 605.2 and did not advance.

Archery supplied another record performance: Sheetal Devi scored 704 out of 720 in women's compound qualification, equalling the world record and improving the previous Asian record of 698 by six points. Payal Nag scored 675 to finish joint fifth. India also secured forthcoming medals through semifinal places in table tennis and badminton, including Prachi Pandey's breakthrough in women's class 6 table tennis.

Key Points

• Mona Agarwal won women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 gold with an Asian Para Games record of 250.0.
• Avani Lekhara took silver with 249.6, finishing 0.4 points behind her compatriot.
• South Korea's Lee Yunri won bronze with 227.9.
• Agarwal also set a Games qualification record of 629.1, ahead of Lekhara's 626.4.
• Lekhara's silver was credited with securing India's second shooting quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics.
• India finished the opening day with 11 medals, including four golds, and stood fourth in the medal table.