Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan clinched the silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, adding to India’s strong start in shooting at the continental event.
Japan’s Hinata Taichi won the gold medal, while South Korea’s Ban Hyojin secured the bronze.
Elavenil entered the final in impressive form and took the early lead after the opening series with a score of 53.1. Her Indian teammate Sonam Maskar was seventh with 52.1.
After 10 shots, Elavenil remained at the top with 106.0 points, while Sonam was placed joint fifth with 104.2.
As the elimination rounds began, Elavenil maintained her consistency, producing scores of 10.6 and 10.3. Sonam also remained in contention with scores of 10.6 and 10.7. After 12 shots, Elavenil led with 126.9, while Sonam was fourth with 125.4.
Elavenil extended her advantage with scores of 10.8 and 10.7 in the next two shots, taking her tally to 148.4 after 14 shots. Sonam remained fourth at that stage, before eventually finishing sixth.
Elavenil continued to hold the lead through the later stages, scoring 10.6 in her 17th shot and 10.1 in her 18th to reach 190.3. After 20 shots, she had 211.1 points, narrowly ahead of Hinata, who had 210.8.
The Japanese shooter then closed the gap. Elavenil scored 10.5 with her 21st shot and moved to second after the 22nd shot with 231.9, behind Hinata’s 232.2.
In the final shot, Elavenil recorded 10.1, while Hinata scored 10.2 to secure the gold medal. Elavenil finished with the silver after an impressive performance.
Earlier, India had opened its medal account at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, with Elavenil, Sonam and Vidarsa Vinod finishing second.
India also made progress in other events on Sunday. Suchika Tariyal secured a medal in women’s traditional 60kg MMA after defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa in the quarterfinals.
The Indian women’s hockey team began its campaign with a commanding 19-0 victory over Uzbekistan, while the women’s table tennis team defeated Indonesia 3-0 in their Group F match.
-Ani
