Rubina Francis Wins Bronze In Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1

Rubina Francis etched her name in Paralympic history on August 31, with a bronze medal in Paris. She rose on the occasion and clinched a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event. Para-athletes never have an easy journey, as they have to fight against all odds and show grit and resilience to reach the top, which was also the case with Rubina.

About Rubina Francis

The 25-year-old, who belong from Jabalpur, was born with talipes, commonly known as club foot, which prevented her from staying steady while shooting at the target, but that didn’t stop her from becoming an inspiration. Since a young age, she had a dream of emulating her idol Gagan Nagar, Olympic silver medalist, but it was not an easy target to achieve, considering Talipes didn’t allow him to stand steady on her feet at that time.

Country’s first female pistol shooter

• On August 31, all the hard work paid dividends as she become the country’s first female pistol shooter to win a Paralympic medal, at bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol (SH1) event.
• In 2015, Rubina found herself at the MP Shooting Academy, where, under the mentorship of Nautiyal and guidance under renowned coach Jaspal Rana’s younger brother Subhash, she flourished.

Her achievements

It was at the 2018 France World Cup that she started realising that to make it big, the first step is to get a Paralympic quota, and that’s where the journey of intensive training began. The hard work started paying off in 2021 when she won the silver medal at the Para World Championships at Lima (Peru) in addition to the bronze in the Para Asian Games in China.