Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan secured the gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle event at the 16th Asian Championships on Friday, delivering a remarkably composed performance in the final. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu, a multiple World Cup gold medalist, outshot her rivals to claim the top spot and add another major title to her impressive list of achievements.
Valarivan's winning score of 253.6 was a testament to her precision under pressure. China's Xinlu Peng took home the silver with a score of 253, while Eunji Kwon of Korea secured the bronze with 231.2 points. Another Indian shooter in the fray, Mehuli Ghosh, narrowly missed a podium finish, settling for fourth place after scoring 208.9 in the final.
Interestingly, Valarivan's path to the gold was a dramatic one. She had barely qualified for the final, squeezing in as the eighth and last qualifier with a score of 630.7. Mehuli Ghosh, who originally finished 10th, made her way into the final after two higher-ranked Indian shooters, Arya Borse (633.2) and Sonam Maskar (630.5), opted out as they were only competing for ranking points. This provided the opportunity for both Valarivan and Ghosh to compete for a medal.
This gold medal is a significant achievement, marking only the second senior individual gold for India at the continental showpiece. The first senior gold was won by Anantjeet Singh Naruka in the men's skeet event. Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker had previously added to India's medal tally with a bronze in the women's 10m air pistol competition.
India has been having a strong showing at the championships, with junior shooters leading the charge and contributing to the country's position at the top of the medal charts. Valarivan's victory adds to this success.