Sumedha Pathak beats out ‘inspiration’ Rubina Francis for Para World Cup shooting gold

Moments after 28-year-old Sumedha Pathak won her first WSPS World Cup individual gold in the women's P2 10m air pistol SH1 final in Changwon, Korea, she was hugged by Paris Paralympics bronze medallist and compatriot Rubina Francis, who finished seventh in the same category.

- GNS News Agency, June 9

For Sumedha, who edged out another Indian, Shrishti Arora, to win the gold with a score of 235.2, and many of her peers, Francis is an inspiration.“Rubina mam has always been an inspiration for me and other shooters and whenever we compete at the shooting range, we see each other as inspiration as well motivating,” Sumedha told The Indian Express from Changwon, Korea.

Daughter of pharmaceutical entrepreneur Brijesh Chandra Pathak, a young Sumedha would always be keen in her studies as well as listening about her father's social work in their hometown of Varanasi. In 2013, after complaining of fever and body pains, she was diagnosed with Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis resulting in spinal paralysis. The Pathak family would then spend months in hospitals in Delhi as well Kolkata before the youngster recovered, with her body movement below her chest being completely nil.“After spending more than a year in recovery at different hospitals, when we returned home, the first thing | told Sumedha was to have belief that we will excel in whatever way we can. We live in a joint family and the entire family ensured that Sumedha always remained focussed on her goals whether it be studies or whatever field she chose,” says father Brijesh Chandra Pathak.Sumedha would top the CBSE 12th exam in commerce stream in specially abled division in India with 91.04 percent in 2016. It was in 2018 that her father, along with consultation with international shooters Asif and Ajit Singh Suryavanshi and coach Santosh Tiwari, got a makeshift shooting range built at their home.