Mona Agarwal wins second Asian Para Games gold with 50m rifle 3 positions world record

Agarwal wins with a world-record score

Indian para shooter Mona Agarwal won the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 final at the Asian Para Games in Nagoya on Friday, October 23, scoring 357.5 to set a world record. The victory gave her her second gold medal at the ongoing Games. China’s Cuiping Zhang took silver with 353.7, South Korea’s Kim Miyoung won bronze with 344.4, and India’s Avani Lekhara finished fourth with 333.2.

Agarwal’s winning total was 1.5 points above the previous world record of 356, set by Sweden’s Anna Benson in Novi Sad in July, and 1.8 points above the Asian record of 355.7, set by South Korea’s Lee Yunri in Changwon the previous month. She finished 3.8 points clear of Zhang.

Agarwal moved into the lead during the final

Agarwal scored 101.4 in the kneeling series and 203.5 after the prone stage. She then moved to 256.5 and 307.3 through her first two standing series. Her closing-series scores were 317.7, 328.0, 338.1, 347.7 and a record-winning 357.5.

Lekhara was among the leading competitors after the prone position but fell back during the standing stages and ended outside the podium. National coach Jeevan Rai said qualification was conducted in windy conditions, while Agarwal’s strength in standing and her strong kneeling and prone scores helped keep her in contention throughout the final.

Second gold followed an opening-day victory

The 50m victory came after Agarwal won the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event on the opening day with a Games-record score of 250.0. Lekhara won silver in that event with 249.6, completing an Indian one-two finish.

Agarwal had secured India’s first quota for the 2028 Paralympics earlier in 2026. The reviewed reporting identified her as 38 in some accounts and 39 in another; the difference does not affect the confirmed result or scores.

Equipment and training challenges

Agarwal said she began training for 50m rifle three positions about three years ago, traveling 30 kilometers to the nearest range while carrying a rented rifle. She obtained her own rifle four months before the final, but it developed an equipment error, so she competed with a rented rifle at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery.

She described training for both shooting disciplines as physically demanding, saying the kneeling, prone and standing positions caused upper-body stress and pain lasting two to three days after 50m three-position training. She worked with a personal strength trainer on posture stability for kneeling and prone, which she said improved her standing scores as well as her 10m air rifle performance.

The next verifiable milestone in Agarwal’s campaign is her participation in the remaining Asian Para Games shooting schedule. The reviewed reporting does not specify her next event or provide a date for it.