In the last 45 years of Paralympic shooting, India’s medal count had been zero. Avani Lekhara decided it was time to change that.

On Monday, the 19-year-old from Jaipur became the first Indian shooter to win gold at the Paralympic Games. She is, in fact, the first Indian woman to claim a gold medal at the Paralympic Games. No Indian woman has won gold at the Summer Olympics.

“She is on a par with Neeraj Chopra,” her coach Chandra Shekhar told The Telegraph from Jaipur.

Avani shot a world record-equalling 249.6 (also a Paralympic record) in the 10m air rifle standing SH1, designated to athletes with lower limb impairment for competition in rifle events.

Avani edged out 2016 Rio Games gold medallist Cuiping Zhang of China, who had to settle for silver with a total of 248.9. World No. 1 and reigning world champion Iryna Shchetnik of Ukraine took home the bronze with an effort of 227.5.

“What she achieved is simply awesome,” Suma Shirur, Olympian shooter with whom Avani has been working on the technical aspects since 2018, said from Tokyo.

Avani herself was at a loss for words. “I can’t describe this feeling, I’m feeling like I’m on top of the world. It’s unexplainable,” Avani was quoted as saying by the International Paralympic Committee website.

“I’m so happy I could be the one to contribute it (gold medal). Hopefully, there’s a lot more medals to come,” the shooter, whose life changed after she read Beijing Games gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra’s autobiography A Shot At History, added.

Nine years ago, Avani and her family met with a crushing car accident and she sustained severe spinal cord injuries. “She was first introduced to archery but later switched to shooting. Her father (Praveen Kumar) and mother (Shweta Jewaria) played a huge role in what she has achieved today,” Chandra Shekhar said.

The key to success is complete trust between his pupil, her parents and the coach, Chandra Shekhar explained.

“We trusted each other to the full. During the lockdown last year, she was getting restless. So whenever the restrictions were relaxed, I used to go to her house for practice sessions,” the 51-year-old coach said.

Avani picked up a rifle for the first time in 2015 at the Jagatpura Shooting Range and came under Chandra Shekhar’s coaching a year later. “She was calm, composed and intelligent,” he said.

According to Chandra Shekhar, the Al Ain 2021 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in March, where Avani finished second, was a game-changer. “I had travelled with her. We both got richer in experience and once we were back in Jaipur, it helped her training a lot,” he said.

Shirur said when Avani came to her Lakshya Shooting Club, she was raw. “She was not that good technically. Technical soundness is very important to perform at the biggest stage. It’s a high pressure game. So we worked on the technique and Avani being a fast learner, it helped.”

Joydeep Karmakar, another Olympian who was in Jaipur as an adviser to the Rajasthan Sports Council in 2018, said: “You could sense she was different from the bunch even at one look. So receptive to whatever her coach (Chandra Shekhar) was asking her to do.”

Ranked fifth in the world, Avani is set to compete in three more events — mixed air rifle prone, women’s 50m rifle 3 positions and mixed 50m rifle prone — and Shirur said: “She has to keep her feet on the ground. Even though 10m air rifle is her pet event, Avani has it in her to win another medal.”

Chandra Shekhar echoed Shirur. “She has to shut herself out of all the euphoria,” he said.