Rubina Francis earned India's fifth medal of the Paris Paralympics 2024 as she clinched the bronze in the women's 10m air pistol SH1 event on Saturday. This was India's fourth medal in para-shooting after Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal and Manish Narwal.
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Iran's Sareh Javanmardi took home the gold with a score of 236.8 while Turkey's Ayesel Ozgan won the silver with a score of 231.1.
In the final, Rubina was placed third after the first series of 10 shots. She began with a superb 10.,7 but her scores fell as the series progressed. When the eliminations started, Rubina maintained her spot despite strong competition from France's Gaelle Edon.
After the 17th shot, Rubina took a decent lead with her score reading 173.7. In the next series, Rubina assured herself of a medal with a 9.5 and a 9.8, while Turkey's Aysegul Pehlivanlar finished fourth.
With four more shots to go, Rubina and Ozgan were involved in a tussle for the silver but eventually, the Indian shooter from Madhya Pradesh finished third after hitting a 9.2 and 8.9.
BRONZE �� For INDIA ����
Rubina Francis wins bronze medal in the Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final with a score of 211.1⚡️#Paris2024 #Cheer4Bharat #Paralympic2024 #ParaShooting@mansukhmandviya @MIB_India @PIB_India @IndiaSports @ParalympicIndia @PCI_IN_Official @Media_SAI... pic.twitter.com/iSBUZ6KNS7
- Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) August 31, 2024
Earlier in the day, Rubina made it to the final after finishing seventh in the qualification with a score of 556/600. She didn't have the best of starts in the qualification, scoring 180 out of 200 but she improved in the third series hitting 95 out of 100. Her scores were pretty much consistent in the rest of the qualification and a 94 in the final series pushed her to the final.
Who is Rubina Francis?
Rubina, 25, was born with a disability in her right leg. She started her shooting journey in an academy in Jabalpur before moving to Bhopal.
"I wanted to do something else besides study in school. Gun for Glory Academy came to my school to advertise shooting and I told my father I wanted to do this. So, I registered myself and I got selected. That is how the interest developed. My parents backed me and that is how I took up shooting. The journey started from there," she told Firstpost.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Rubina's father Francis, a mechanic by profession, said, "Initially, we faced hardships as I didn't have money to even afford petrol to take her to the academy in Jabalpur. I used to wait for hours during her practice session as I couldn't afford to commute twice to the academy. Later, her mother started working at a private hospital to fulfil basic needs."
Her career took off when she joined the MP Shooting Academy under Jaspal Rana in 2017. Later, under coach Subhash Rana, she began to excel at the international stage. Her career's first big moment came at the Peru World Cup in 2021 when she secured the Tokyo Paralympics quota by winning the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event. She also created a new world record by shooting 238.1 points.
At Tokyo, the expectations of Rubina were huge because she had the world record to her name, but she finished seventh in the final. It took three years for her to complete her redemption act with a bronze in Paris.