Asian Shooting Championship: Elavenil Valarivan Claims Gold To Add To Indian Tally

Elavenil Valarivan of India bagged the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle competition in the 16th Asian Championships at the Kazakh city of Shymkent on Friday to add to the nation’s tally at the event.

The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu posted a score of 253.6 to finish on top in the final of the event, ahead of China’s Xinlu Peng and Korea’s Eunji Kon, who picked up the silver and bronze medals respectively with scores of 253 and 231.2.

Mehuli Ghosh, the other Indian in the fray, finished fourth after scoring 208.9 in the eight-shooter final.

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With Valarivan’s triumph, India now tallies 15 gold, six silver, and six bronze medals, solidifying their lead in the standings.

A day earlier, Abhinav Shaw began India’s gold haul by partnering with Naraen Pranav (third with 631.1) and Himanshu (fourth with 630.9), scoring 628.1 in qualification and securing a spot in the final for himself. Their combined tally of 1890.1 set both an Asian and junior world record, earning a gold for India.

In an exciting final, Shaw started fifth but took the lead after the second series of five shots. The final stage was a close contest with Lee Hyunseo, but Shaw demonstrated remarkable composure, especially after scoring two high 9s on his 17th and 18th shots, eventually edging out the Korean by 0.1. A perfect 10.9 on his 21st shot capped his victory.

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In the junior women’s skeet final, Mansi Raghuwanshi emerged victorious with a score of 53 out of 60 targets. Fellow Indian Yashasvi Rathore earned silver with 52, while Kazakhstan’s Lidiya Basharova took bronze. Mansi clinched gold by hitting all her last 10 targets, whereas Yashasvi missed two, settling for silver. Agrima Kanwar, the other Indian participant, finished sixth in the final.

In the junior men’s skeet, Harmehar Singh Lally (115, 3rd in qualification) and Jyotiraditya Singh Sisodia (110, 5th in qualification) secured individual silver and bronze with scores of 52 and 43 respectively. Artyom Sedelnikov of Kazakhstan won gold with 53 hits. However, the Indian duo, along with Atul Singh Rajawat (107), won the junior men’s skeet team gold with a combined score of 338, surpassing the Kazakh team by four.