Paris Paralympics 2024: Rubina Francis wins bronze in women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event

Published at :August 31, 2024 at 7:38 PM

Modified at :August 31, 2024 at 7:38 PM

(Courtesy : Getty Images)

This is India’s fourth medal in para shooting at the Paris Paralympics 2024.

India’s Rubina Francis clinched a bronze medal in women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event at the Paris Paralympics 2024. This marks India’s fifth medal in the global showpiece event. The class SH1 for pistol signifies an impairment in the upper and/or limbs, but with the ability to hold their guns without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position.

Rubina achieved a total score of 211.1 in the final, to finish third in the standings. The current world record holder Sareh Javanmardi of Iran clinched the gold medal, while the current Paralympic record holder Aysel Ozgan of Turkiye won silver.

Medal Alert! 🚨Rubina Francis secures India's 5th medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024, winning Bronze in Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1! This is India's 4th shooting medal in the Games. 🇮🇳 #Paralympics2024 #ParisParalympics2024 #ParisParalympics pic.twitter.com/3vmHVi3kAK
— Khel Now (@KhelNow) August 31, 2024

In the qualifiers, the shooter from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh managed a total score of 556 points out of a maximum of 600, with 13x (inner tens) to finish sixth in the charts.

Rubina didn’t have the best of starts there, with identical scores of 90 in the first two series, which included a 7 on the very third shot. However, she upped her game, scoring 95 in the third series to enter the top 10.

She had a dip in the next series, managing a score of 92. The fifth series again saw her scoring 95.

In the sixth and final series, she started off well, with 48 in the first five shots. However, an 8 in the next shot threatened to derail her chances of finishing in the top eight. With a score of 536 with two shots remaining, Rubina managed to keep her nerve, scoring two 10s to finish sixth.

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In the final, she had a brilliant start, achieving a score of 10.7 on her very first shot. She followed it up two identical scores of 10.3, however a score of 9.0 on her last shot meant she stood second after the first five shots with 50 points.

A score of 8.4 on her sixth shot pushed her to third spot. She managed consistent scores in the next four shots, as she managed to stay at third spot with 97.6 points after the end of ten shots.

The 2022 Para Asian Games bronze medallist then scored 8.9 and 9.3 to remain in the third sport after the first elimination, with 115.8 points. An 8.7 in the next shot pushed her down, as she stood at fourth spot after the second elimination with 134.3 points.

The Indian moved back to third spot, with a score of 9.7 on her fifteenth shot. A wonderful shot of 10.4 meant she had a score of 154.4 after the third elimination. A score of 10.1 on her eighteenth shot, meant she had a total of 173.7 points, as the top four was now decided.

With scores of 9.5 and 9.8 on her next two shots, Rubina not only assured herself a medal, but also moved into silver medal position with 193 points, above Ozgan. However, a score of 9.2 pushed her back down to third spot and an 8.9 in the next elimination shot, ensured she finished at third spot with 211.1 points.

Javanmardi finished at the top with a score of 236.8, while Ozgan ended at the second place with a score of 231.1.

Rubina’s medal is India’s fourth in para shooting in two days, at the Paris Games, following Avani Lekhara’s gold medal and Mona Agarwal’s bronze medal in the women’s 10m air rifle SH1 event, and Manish Narwal’s silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event.

It is worth noting that Rubina had finished seventh in the qualifiers at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, before finishing seventh in the final too, despite entering as a massive medal prospect.

Rubina took up the sport professionally in the year 2015. She started her training at Gagan Narang’s shooting academy Guns for Glory in her hometown before moving to Bhopal in 2017, where she got to train under the likes of Jaspal Rana at the MP Shooting Academy.

In June 2021, she made headlines after she broke the world record to win gold at the World Shooting Para Sport Cup in Lima.

Born with a disability in her leg, Rubina Francis has endured a lot of struggles and made numerous sacrifices. Her story of grit and determination, en route to the podium, is sure to have inspired a large number of people.

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