: Proud of Avanis Victory: Indias First Woman Para-Shooter Who Paved the Path #IndiaNEWS #Disability India once again made history at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, thanks to shooter Avani Lekhara who

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Proud of Avanis Victory: Indias First Woman Para-Shooter Who Paved the Path #IndiaNEWS #Disability
India once again made history at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, thanks to shooter Avani Lekhara who clinched a gold in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event on 30 August.
The 19-year-old from Jaipur gave India its fourth medal at the games so far after Yogesh Kathuniya’s silver in discus throw; Devendra Jhajharia’s silver and Sundar Singh Gurjar’s bronze in javelin.
As India cheers for its extraordinary talent being showcased at the Paralympics and congratulates Lekhara, we pause and rewind to veteran athletes who paved the way for hundreds of others to dream big too.
They were the first ones who believed in themselves when no one else did. They took a plunge and shattered the stigma and stereotypes around disability.
Dilraj, first woman para shooter from Dehradun, is one such history-maker.
Dilraj Kaur is Indias first woman para shooter
She entered the sports profession in 2004 and self-coached for most part of her career to win several medals at the national and international level. An advocate by profession, she is also a certified coach. She has held posts as an officer in different associations like the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup, 2021.
Training with broken bricks & a dummy
Dilraj hails from a middle-class family with two older siblings. Her father was in government service and her mother was a teacher. She was born in 1982 with a congenital limb defect, which meant her left arm and leg were not fully formed at birth.
Growing up in the ’80s as a disabled was not the same as it is today. Lack of awareness and sensitisation were her biggest challenges while growing up. Fortunately, the discrimination was limited to outside of her home.
“My parents never treated me any different. I got the same punishments and rewards as my older brother and sister,� recalls Dilraj, adding, “It was my mother who motivated me to become an athlete. One of her friends informed her about the disabled (formerly called ‘Handicapped’) category in sports. She tapped my potential for shooting and 15 days later, I was competing at the state level. �

During those three months in 2004, the family helped her set up a practice place. A pile of broken bricks collected from the colony and a sack filled with stones were Dilraj’s initial companions.
Her interest in the sport grew by the day and there came a point when Dilraj started aiming at the objects in the house. From a neatly folded newspaper, a bottle to plants in her balcony, Dilraj would point at faraway objects and hit them with a paper ball.
She coached herself and the mistakes were rectified by her family members.

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