Mona Agrawal of Jaipur has won a bronze medal in the Paris Paralympics, but Mona’s journey to reach the medal was not easy. She suffered from polio in childhood. This caused problems in walking. She had to face taunts from the society. She learned different sports. She reached the national level in them. 2 years
Mona started playing the game in 2017. First of all, Mona started her career with athletics. Then she also tried her hand at sitting volleyball. She also made the Sitting Volleyball India team. After this, she did weightlifting. During this, she won state and national level awards. After the Tokyo Paralympics, she started preparing to bring changes in the game keeping in mind her physical fitness. – Ravindra Choudhary, Mona’s husband
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Preparations for shooting started from 2022
Ravindra Chaudhary said- From December 2021, Mona decided to make a career in shooting. She started preparing for shooting from January 2022. She put her heart and soul into shooting. Due to that, she has been able to reach this position in just 2 years. Ravindra Chaudhary has also played sitting volleyball. Currently, I am a wheelchair basketball player. We both met and talked to each other.
Love marriage was arranged with the consent of the family
Mona and I met in 2017 during a tournament at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Slowly, our conversation started increasing. Then we became friends. Then we felt that we were made for each other, but we both belong to different castes. We wanted to have a love marriage. After the consent of the family, the wedding took place with great pomp and show. – Ravindra Choudhary, Mona’s husband
Mona has not met her children for 10 months
Ravindra Chaudhary said- I, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law took care of both the children together. We assured Mona that her children are being brought up well. Both Mona and I feel that we have to do more for our society than what normal people are unable to do. With this thought, both Mona and I are working hard.
Mona loves playing with children. We also have two children, but because of her game, she has not been able to meet the children for the last 8-10 months. She was continuously preparing by staying in Delhi. This is the thing that saddens her the most. – Ravindra Choudhary
Ravindra said- Shooting is a very expensive sport. Today after winning the medal, many people have started recognizing Mona. Till some time ago, people did not know her, she was also getting government help for the last few months. Shooting is a very expensive game. In such a situation, the family members were helping Mona to move forward in this sport.
Does not allow daughter-in-law to do household chores
Mona’s mother-in-law Nirma Devi said- Today I am proud of my son’s choice. Now whenever Mona comes home, I will feed her her favourite food. Anyway, on normal days I don’t let her work. I do all the household chores. She only gets a chance to make tea sometimes.
I am very happy with this achievement of my daughter-in-law. She has brought glory to our family in the society and the country. It is very difficult to express this happiness in words. – Niraam Devi, Mona’s mother-in-law
On the other hand, Mona’s sister-in-law Savita said- She had worked hard with all her heart. Today the result has come. She has made our family proud in the country. Now whenever she comes home, we will welcome her with dance and song.
Mona Agarwal has won the bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics.
Mona’s family is from Sikar
Mona was born in Sikar, Rajasthan. She was unable to walk since childhood due to polio. Mona has completed her MBA. She lives with her family in Jhotwara. She has a daughter and a son.
Could not qualify for the first Paralympics
Mona had earlier aimed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympics through the 2022 Asian Para Games and the 2023 WSPS Championships in Lima. However, she missed out on qualifying for the Paralympics. She then found success at the WSPS World Cup 2024 held in New Delhi. In this, she won the gold medal by registering a total score of 250.7.
India won two medals today in Paris Paralympics. Jaipur’s Avni Lekhara and Mona Agarwal won gold and bronze medals in R-2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle SH-1. Avni finished first and Mona third in the final round. Avni, who aimed for gold, also broke her own Paralympic record. In Tokyo Paralympics, she had set a Paralympic record by scoring 249.6 points. This time she set a new record by scoring 249.7 points
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