Once mocked for being girl child and polio-stricken, Mona Agarwal is now a Paris Paralympics medallist

As a child, Mona Agarwal would be taunted and mocked by relatives and elders about being the third daughter of her family and suffering from polio, which affected both of her legs.

She never let those words affect her.

Mona began competing in para-shooting towards the end of 2021. On Friday, the 37-year-old, a mother of two, won a bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics. Mona was the second Indian on the podium after Avani Lekhara defended the gold medal she won in Tokyo, in the women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH 1 final at the Chateauroux Shooting Range.

As she shot her way to Paralympic glory, Mona’s husband Ravindra Chaudhary’s mind harked back to the days when she was ridiculed for being the family’s third girl child.

“Well, when she was born, those were still the old times and people saw the birth of a girl child as a discouraging one. She was affected with polio and that too was a discouragement for her from the relatives and elders,” Chaudhary told The Indian Express from Jaipur.

“But as she grew in strength, all such things were forgotten by the relatives and elders. To see her win the Paralympics bronze medal is one of the biggest steps in her life and she has shown to the world that girls like her too can become role models for the society as well the whole sporting community.”

Growing up, Mona — whose father ran a hardware shop in Sikar — dreamt of pursuing a career in sports. After competing in para-athletics in events like shot put, discus throw and javelin throw at the state level at Jaipur, she shifted to para-weightlifting, where she won the state title in the 60 Kg category after her marriage in 2017.

It was not until the end of 2021 that she first tried her hands at shooting. “Before we got married in 2017, Mona competed in athletics events and would train on her own at Jaipur. She always wanted to be not dependent on anybody and saw para sports as something, which helped her achieve that. I was also training as a para-athlete in Jaipur at that time and when we got married, I supported her in every way to let her achieve her dreams,” Chaudhary said.

It was at the Eklavya Sports Shooting Academy in Jaipur that Agarwal first started shooting under coach Yogesh Shekhawat. While she trained initially with Shekhawat’s rifle, the coach would be impressed by her judgment of the targets as well as the stillness in her posture during her initial days in the sport.

“As compared to pistol, rifle shooting was better suited for her as she would balance the rifle with both her hands. Since she was a para-weightlifter too, her upper body had the strength to manage the rifle load and it helped her to start shooting at the age of 34. It took us time to find a suitable balanced position for her and it came with a lot of dry shooting,” recalls Shekhawat. Dry shooting is an exercise where shooters just point their rifles at the target, without actually taking a shot.

While she worked as a Lower Division Clerk in Jaipur District court earlier, Mona and her husband had to cut corners to save more than four lakhs needed for her first rifle — which she purchased in 2022.

“She never thought that what if she did not excel in shooting. She had the faith that whatever she competes, she will give her best and she has rarely taken help from any of her relatives or parents,” Chaudhary said. “When we got her first rifle, it cost more than four lakhs but then she would tell me that it was for her passion and we would add more savings. The only problem she faced was travelling with her wheelchair and rifle or tackling non-disabled friendly infrastructure in India.”

Last year, Mona won the gold in the Para Shooting World Cup in New Delhi, which also helped her win the Paris quota. She then paired up with Aadithya Giri to claim the mixed team air rifle standing (SH1) event silver medal in Delhi and followed that with another gold in the Para Shooting World Cup in Korea one month later.

Chief national coach JP Nautiyal has also spent time with Mona in the national camp. “In the SH1 category, the main thing is finding the balance between the wheelchair, table and the athlete’s position. So we spent a lot of time balancing her posture. We never discussed scores with her and would always imbibe the thought of thinking of one shot at a time and that helped her mindset. The other key was to fine-tune things like the butt plate of the rifle and the small adjustments in the rifle for her. And she showed her talent in last year’s two world cups,” said Nautiyal.

At the Chaudhary residence in Jaipur, Mona’s five-year-old daughter Aarvi and three-year-old son Avik are waiting for their mother’s arrival with the medal. “Avik was less than one year old when Mona started shooting,” says the shooter’s husband. “My mother would take care of both the children and Mona did not have to worry about them. Whenever she wins medals, both the kids wear the medals around their necks and roam for hours with the medals. It will be the same this time, too.”

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