When Para-shooter Mona Agarwal stepped into the range at the recently concluded Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, she was simply aiming for a podium finish. But in a breathtaking performance, the 38-year-old exceeded all her expectations—clinching her first-ever Asiad medal with a double gold in the 10m air rifle standing and 50m rifle 3 positions events, while at the same time shattering the World Record in the 50m final and registering five new records overall. When her final shot hit the target, she looked up at the central display board. “I hadn’t planned for a World Record, I had only prepared for a medal,” shares Agarwal. “When the screen flashed ‘World Record, Asian Record, and Games Record’ all at once, my mouth was left wide open in complete awe. It was my first Asiad appearance medal and to win two golds along with everything over it is as special as it could ever get,”
For Mona, the surprises didn’t end on the range. Half an hour after her medal ceremony, her team dropped another news: she had been chosen as India’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony. “I laughed thinking I’d already received every surprise imaginable with the World Record! Carrying the tricolor wasn’t even on my bucket list, but holding it felt like carrying the pride of 1.5 billion Indians.”
Behind her historic feats lies an intense eight-month training grind in Delhi, far away from her home in Jaipur and her two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. Balancing elite performance with motherly instincts was a constant struggle, but Agarwal credits her mother-in-law, Brahma Devi, for holding the fort at home. “Only a mother understands a mother’s heart,” she reflects. “Right before the games, my daughter called me secretly, crying for a toy. My mother-in-law stepped in, fulfilled her wish, and had her video call me back to say, ‘Mamma, don’t stress, focus on your practice!’ That support allowed me to give my best.” Agarwal then dedicates her triumph to two women in her life, “This is for the two ladies in my life who taught me never to give up. My mother-in-law and her late grandmother, Geeta Devi.” Now, as she prepares to reunite with her family, her celebration plan remains wonderfully simple: “Celebration for me is just too sit and watch my kids open the gifts I am bringing back from Japan for them and watch them smile in joy.”
