Iran’s female shooter Sareh Javanmardi won Iran’s first gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro in the 10m air pistol shooting competitions on September 9.
Competing on the second day of the games, Javanmardi scored 193.4 points to finish in the first place and register a new world record as well, varzesh3.com reported.
Javanmardi, 32, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 London games, made history by becoming Iran’s first ever female gold medalist in the shooting category of Paralympics Games.
Olga Kovalchuk of Ukraine and Turkey’s Aysegul Pehlivanlar took silver and bronze respectively.
Two years ago, Javanmardi was chosen as the best Asian female athlete with impairments by the Asian Paralympic Committee. She received the title thanks to two gold medals she won at the 2014 Asian Para Games held in Incheon, South Korea.
On the first day of the event, Iran won a silver medal by Saman Pakbaz in the shot put category.
The two medals so far have put Iran in the 20th slot of the medal count table.
Iran’s National Paralympic Committee sent 111 athletes to the event, 23 women and 88 men. They are competing in 12 fields, namely archery, athletics, cycling, 5-a-side football, 7-a-side football, judo, paracanoeing, powerlifting, shooting, swimming, volleyball and wheelchair basketball.
Iran’s squad finished 11th in 2012 London, winning 24 medals - 10 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze.
Paralympics is a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympics Committee.
A total of 175 countries have sent more than 4,500 athletes to this year’s event.
China so far tops the medal table with 49 medals. Britain is second with 27s, Ukraine third with 26 and the US fourth with 14 medals.
The 12-day event will conclude on September 18.
Highlight: Sareh Javanmardi, 32, won a bronze medal at the 2012 London games and was chosen as the best Asian female athlete with impairments by the Asian Paralympic Committee in 2014 due to winning two gold medals at the 2014 Asian Para Games
