Who is Rubina Francis? The girl who overcame talipes to win medal at the 10m Air Pistol

New Delhi: From overcoming a rare disease called Talipes or club foot to winning a bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024 Rubina Francis has become an inspiration for all her countrymen. Rubina held her nerves to end on the podium in the 10 m Air Pistol SH1 event.

Francis shot 211.1 in the final to finish behind Iran’s Sareh Javanmardi and Turkiye’s Aysel Ozgan and win the bronze medal. This was a remarkable achievement for the 25-year-old as she became the first para shooter to win a medal in this event.

Who is Rubina Francis?

Born in 1999 in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Rubina Francis is a para shooter specialising in the 10m air pistol and 10 m pistol categories. Rubina was fuelled by an ardent desire to win a medal on the highest stage after watching her idol Gagan Narang.

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However, winning the medal was a far-fetched dream for the youngster given that she had trouble standing at one point in time due to her talipes disease. To add to her worries, Francis had problems while sitting as well. Rubina’s coach JP Nautiyal told the PTI about the struggles-

We tried making her sit and shoot but that would not be perfect

This precarious problem had taken a toll on the mental health of Rubina who had considered giving up on her shooting dreams. However, her coaches did not give up on her and came up with a unique solution to the problem. Talking about the unique approach, Nautiyal said-

We made her stand and got special shoes for her which facilitated balance

After the shoes, the next task for the Indian coach was to put Rubina Francis in the correct posture. For this, the coaches worked tirelessly with her on the correct posture. All that hard work and back-breaking exercise has paid off beautifully as the youngster managed to win the medal.