Elavenil Valarivan wins women's 10m air rifle gold in Asian Championships as Indian juniors continue to dominate

Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan clinched the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle competition of the 16th Asian Championships in Kazakhstan’s Shymkent on Friday with a characteristically composed performance in the final.

The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu, who has won multiple gold medals in World Cups, shot a score of 253.6 to finish on top in the final and claim her second gold in the continental showpiece, the first coming way back in 2019 when she was honing her skills under the tutelage of Olympic medallist shooter Gagan Narang at his Gun for Glory Academy.

The silver went to China’s Xinlu Peng with a score of 253, while Korea’s Eunji Kwon (231.2) took home the bronze.

In the skeet mixed team, Abhay Singh Sekhon (65) and Ganemat Sekhon (73) shot 138 in qualification to make the second bronze medal match against Kuwait’s Abdullah Alrashidi, a 62-year-old legend of the sport and a double Olympic bronze medallist, partnering Afrah Almohammad.

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The Indians prevailed 39-37 in the 48-shot team contest, going into the final station just a point ahead. However, Afrah missed a couple while the other three missed just one of the last four, to give India another senior medal.

Coming back to the women’s rifle final, this was Valarivan’s first individual podium finish in the ongoing event having won a silver and bronze in the team events previously.

Another Indian in the fray, Mehuli Ghosh, signed off in fourth position after scoring 208.9 in the eight-shooter final.

Valarivan had qualified eighth for the final with a score of 630.7. Ghosh had originally finished 10th in the event with a score of 630.3 but made the final as two other higher-placed Indians – Arya Borse (633.2) and Sonam Maskar (630.5) – stepped aside since they were competing only for ranking points.

Meanwhile, Valarivan and Mehuli combined with Ananya Naidu (630.0) to win the team bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle event with a total score of 1891. China won gold while Korea took silver.

Valarivan’s medal was only the second senior individual gold for India in the continental showpiece, where the country is topping the charts thanks to a strong showing by its junior shooters.

Anantjeet Singh Naruka had claimed India’s first senior gold in the men’s skeet event. Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker had won the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol competition.

Juniors continue to dominate

Harmehar Singh Lally combined with Yashasvi Rathore to win the gold medal in the junior skeet mixed team competition, defeating Kazakhstan’s Maxim Pochivalov and Lidiya Basharova 39-36 in the contest for the top prize.

The trio of Shambhavi Shravan, Hrudya Shri Kondur and Isha Anil won the gold medal in the team gold in the women’s junior 10m air rifle competition with a combined total of 1896.2, which is a junior world and Asian record.

The teams from China and South Korea bagged the silver and bronze respectively.

In the individual final, however, Shambhavi finished fifth with 186.3, Isha was sixth with 165.2 and Hrudya seventh with a score of 143.2.

In the bronze medal match in junior skeet mixed team competition, Ishaan Singh and Agrima Kanwar lost to Kazakhstan’s Artyom Sedelinov and Angelina Sorokina 36-40.

Consistent Valarivan

One of India’s most consistent woman rifle shooters for some years now, Valarivan has time and again proven her mettle against the best in the world be it in the World Cup, the season-ending World Cup Finals, or the Asian Championship.

Currently ranked 11th, she is now set to storm into the top-10 which is not an uncharted territory for the Indian ace, having once achieved the world number one ranking in her category.

Known for her unwavering focus and mental fortitude under pressure, Valarivan is now aiming for glory at next year’s Asian Games but before that, she will want to do well at the ISSF World Championships, where she has a team bronze but no individual honours.

Besides the Olympics, the Worlds and Asian Games are some of the events in which Valarivan is yet to taste success in the individual events.