3 min readChandigarhUpdated: Oct 24, 2026 12:01 AM ISTMona Agarwal with national coach Jeevan Rai. (Special arrangement)Days after winning the 10m air rifle gold, Mona Agarwal added another in the 50 metre 3-position final with a world record score of 357.5. When she decided to try her hand at the 50m 3P three years ago, Jaipur-based Mona had to travel 30 kilometres to the closest range for training. She rode a scooty and carried a rented 50m rifle.“When I decided to train in the 50m rifle, the 50m range was 30km away from my home. I rented a 50m rifle and carried it while riding. I trained three times a week apart from practicing 10m air rifle at the range near my home. Only four months ago, I got my own 50m rifle. But that too had an equipment error. I was competing with a rented rifle here today,” Mona told The Indian Express.The 39-year-old mother of two had only competed four times in the 50m 3P discipline at the international level, including a 13th place finish at the Paris Paralympics.Training for both events meant that Agarwal had to find the right balance. “While the shots were reduced to 60 shots, kneeling, prone as well as standing positions meant that my upper body faced a lot of stress. I would be in pain for 2-3 days after training in the 50m 3P. But then I had to find the balance between 50M 3P and the 10m air rifle training. I hired a personal strength trainer for posture stability for kneeling and prone positions, and once we achieved that, my scores improved in standing too. It helped in the 10m air rifle training too,” Mona, who had contracted polio at nine months, said. Shooter Mona Agarwal competes in the women’s 10m air rifle event. (Photo: Paralympic Committee of India)In qualification, Agarwal shot 192 in the kneeling position before shooting 190 in prone and 186 in standing. In the final, Agarwal was placed fourth with a score of 101.4 after the kneeling series before she climbed to the second spot with a cumulative score of 203.5 after the prone series (102.1 points). Agarwal shot the first standing series of 103.8 to be placed at the top with 307.3 and maintained the spot in the single-shot elimination series. National coach Jeevan Rai said she had put in a lot of work and it had paid dividends.“The qualification was in windy conditions. Mona’s strength has been standing and she showed that in the final. But the good scores in kneeling as well prone meant that she was never out of contention. We worked on her back position as well as shoulder position in standing and posture alignment in kneeling,” Rai said.Rai also reflected on how Agarwal needed to achieve the balance of training for the two events to win twin medals in the LA Paralympics. “Now that her body has been taking the load of training in both the events for 1-2 years, this medal will add to her confidence a lot. Normally, we practice 400 shots in air rifle and 600-700 shots per week in 50m rifle every week and there will be some more work in the balance as well posture,” added.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdNitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More Tags:Asian GamesParalympicsAdvertisementLoading Recommendations...AdvertisementAdvertisement