ISSF Junior World Cup gold medalist Elavenil Valarivan shoots 253 in 10m air rifle shooting to smash world record

New Delhi: ISSF Junior World Cup gold medalist Elavenil Valarivan bettered world record score to clinch gold medals in both 10m air rifle senior and junior categories at the 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship. Gujrat’s Valarivan bettered Chinese Ruozhu Zhao’s world record of 252.4 en route to her twin medals at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. [caption id=“attachment_4546411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Elavenil Valarivan shot 253 and bettered the Chinese’s record of 252.4. Image courtesy: Twitter @elavalarivan[/caption] While Valarivan shot 253 and bettered the Chinese’s record, the feat won’t go down in the history books as ISSF, the world governing body for the sport, only considers tournaments held at a world or continental level. India’s teen prodigy Mehuli Ghosh could only finish with 251.7 and had to eventually settle for silver while another Manini Kaushik from Rajasthan bagged the bronze with 230.9 in the senior category. Valarivan shined in the junior category as well with a score of 252.3 to annex her second gold. West Bengal’s Mehuli stayed on track to continue her medal rush as she bagged the silver with 251.1 whereas Shreya Agarwal from Madhya Pradesh too continued her medal winning spree and claimed a spot on the podium with a score of 229.7. In the youth category, Yana Rathore of Madhya Pradesh bagged gold with 249.6 while Himachal Pradesh’s Zeena Khitta grabbed the second spot with 248.5. Haryana’s Nischal Singh finished third with a score of 225.1. The selection trail 5 was held simultaneously with the KSS Memorial Shooting Championship which saw Valarivan top the charts with a qualification score of 632.2 while Mehuli scored 629.7 and Manini took the third spot with 629.1. These points will be considered while the Asian Games and World Championships selections take place.