Rubina Francis makes 10m air pistol final at Paralympic Games

Indian shooter Rubina Francis showed tremendous determination to qualify in seventh place for the women’s 10m air pistol (SH1) final, even as 10m air rifle (SH1) marksman Swaroop Unhalkar was unable to make an impact at the Paralympic Games here on Saturday.

Rubina, 25, trailed the top-eight shooters for most part of the qualification round but picked up speed at the fag end to sneak into the medal round.

The shooter from Madhya Pradesh had also finished seventh in the qualifying round at the Tokyo Paralympics three years back before ending up seventh in the final as well.

Rubina, who was placed 14th after the first series of 10 shots in the qualifying, gradually moved up and clinched a sport in the eight-shooter final with a score of 556.

Rubina had secured the Paralympics quota under the bipartite (wildcard) rule a few days before the contingent’s departure for Paris.

In the men’s 10m air rifle standing (SH1) event, Swaroop, the 38-year-old marksman competing in his second Paralympics, finished a dismal 14th in the qualification round to miss the final by quite a distance.

Unhalkar, who had missed the bronze medal by a whisker at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago, was far from impressive in an 18-shooter field on Saturday, aggregating 613.4 points.

South Korea’s Park Jinho topped the field with a score of 624.4, a clear 10.5 points ahead of Unhalkar.

Unhalkar never rose beyond the 13th rank, and at one point during the contest had slipped to 16th.

The Kolhapur marksman, who was diagnosed with polio at an early age that left him paralysed in both the legs, did manage a decent second series of 103.0 but again slipped back into mediocrity.

He had scores of 101.8, 103.0, 101.7, 101.8, 102.4, 102.7 to aggregate 613.4.

The SH1 category is for para shooters who can hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or chair).

The disappointment came just a day after women’s 10m air rifle shooter Avani Lekhara came up with an extraordinary performance to become the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals with a record-breaking performance.

India had also won a silver medal through Manish Narwal in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1) final, and a bronze through 37-year-old late-bloomer Mona Agarwal, who finished third in the same event as Avani, on Friday.