Indian shooter Manish Narwal clinched a silver medal in the men's 10m air pistol (SH1) event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, adding another accolade to India’s growing medal tally.
Competing at the Chateauroux International Shooting Range on Friday, the 22-year-old shooter scored a total of 234.9 points in the final.
Narwal led for a significant portion of the final, but a series of poor shots cost him the gold as he lost ground to South Korea’s veteran marksman Jo Jeongdu, who capitalised on Narwal’s mistakes.
The SH1 category is for athletes who can hold their pistols without support and can shoot from either a standing or seated position.
Earlier, Narwal made it to the final by finishing fifth in the qualification round with a score of 565.
His fellow Indian shooter, Rudransh Khandelwal, narrowly missed out on the final, finishing ninth with 561 points—just one point shy of Uzbekistan’s Server Ibragimov, who took the last qualification spot.
Narwal, who claimed gold in the Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event at the Tokyo Paralympics, managed to recover from a slow start in the final to keep his medal hopes alive, eventually settling for silver.
This silver is India's fourth medal in the ongoing Paralympics. The Indian campaign was opened by Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal, who won gold and bronze, respectively, in the women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event earlier in the Games.
Avani Lekhara's achievement is historic as she became the first Indian para-athlete to win back-to-back gold medals at the Paralympics.
She not only defended her title from the Tokyo Games but also set a new Paralympic record with a score of 249.7 in her category. Mona Agarwal, who had briefly led the standings, finished with a bronze with a score of 228.7.
Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia is another Indian to win two gold medals at the Paralympics, achieving this feat in 2004 and 2016.
Follow us
