Meet Rubina Francis, The Pistol Shooter Who Clinched India's Fifth Medal At Paris Paralympics 2024

Paris Paralympics 2024: "Sport is everything to me - my life, my career, my status, everything. Sport gave me a different perspective on things and helped me make my nation proud."

This is how Rubina Francis explained her philosophy to the Bridge in 2021 and on Saturday she scripted history by winning the bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol SH1 event. She has become the first Indian woman pistol shooter to have won a medal at the quadrennial event. She displayed determination as she made a last-minute entry to have qualified for the summit clash. In the medal round, she displayed her prowess and stayed in the top four consistently.

She also was in the top two positions but then won the bronze medal and this was also the fourth medal in the sport at the ongoing quadrennial event. The youngster does have a connection with Manu Bhaker as both of them trained under the guidance of legendary coach Jaspal Rana.

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Rubina Francis: The Beginning

Rubina Francis, the brilliant para-shooter from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh rose in the world of sports while facing lots of challenges. She belongs to a lower-middle-class family and has suffered from leg dysfunction. Simon Francis, who is her father, was a mechanic and failed to support her dreams of shooting due to financial instability.

Her love for the sport grew in 2015 as she watched her idol Olympian Gagan Narang. Despite her family's limited resources, her grit helped her to reach Pune's Gun for Glory Academy in 2017 and this was only possible when her father decided to support her dreams.

"Sport is everything to me - my life, my career, my status, everything. Sport gave me a different perspective on things and helped me make my nation proud", Rubina was quoted as saying to Firstpost in 2021.

The Manu Bhaker connect

In the academy, her skills stood out from the rest and thus caught the attention of her mentor Mr. Jai Prakash Nautiyal. She then got selected for the MP shooting academy, where she trained under the legendary coach Jaspal Rana. Under his guidance, she improved her skills and bagged her first international medal and that was the beginning of her brilliant career in shooting.

Rana helped Manu revive her performance at the Paris Olympics 2024, where she won two bronze medals. Rubina does share a connection with Manu and that is how both of them were able to redeem themselves in Paris.

In the same category, Rubina had finished at the seventh position in the Tokyo Paralympics and now she made a comeback and clinched the bronze medal on Saturday.