Rubina Francis Shines with Bronze in Paris, Joins India’s Medal Charge at Paralympics

NEW DELHI: India's Rubina Francis won the country its second bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics in the women's 10m air pistol SH1 event on Wednesday. Competing at the Chateauroux Final Range, the 25-year-old shooter from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, held her nerve as she shot 211.1 points to seal a podium place amidst stiff competition.

Rubina showcased her fighting spirit throughout the final as she consistently remained in the top four and even leaped to second position briefly during the 19th and 20th shots. The experienced shooter narrowly missed the silver as Aysel Ozgan of Turkey sealed the second position with a score of 231.1 points. The Paralympic champion from Iran, Sareh Javanmardi, shot like a bullet, reaching at the top with a gold-winning score of 236.8 points.

Rubina's journey to the podium in the Paralympic Games is simply inspiring. Born into a lower-middle-class family, she had to fight on two fronts: the economic challenge and a dysfunction of the leg. Her father, Simon Francis, who was a mechanic, played a facilitating role in the nurture, with shooting not an expensive sport to pursue. She took up shooting in 2015, inspired by the Olympic success of Gagan Narang. The desire to excel led her to join the Gun for Glory Academy, Pune, in 2017, and very soon, a lot of talent was unearthed.

First mentored by Jai Prakash Nautiyal and later in MP Shooting Academy by the famous coach Jaspal Rana, the skills of Rubina found their development. Her turning point came at the France World Cup in 2018, and a belief was sown that she should get a Paralympic quota. She finally reached that goal when, at the Lima 2021 World Cup, she booked her place in the Tokyo Paralympics, becoming India's first woman pistol para-shooter.

Day 2 at the Paralympics in Paris belonged to the Indian shooters as Avani Lekhara defended her title with a new Paralympic record to get gold in the women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event, while Mona Agarwal ensured double delight by grabbing bronze with an aggregate score of 228.7 in the same event. Adding more to the medal count, Manish Narwal contributed by taking silver in the Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event after pushing Korea's Jeongdu Jo to the limit.

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