Elavenil wins gold, India leads medals at Asian shooting championship

Elavenil Valarivan clinched 10m air rifle gold with an Asian finals record, leading India’s dominant showing at the Asian Shooting Championship. India tops the medal tally with 17 gold medals

Hyderabad: Two-time Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won the 10m air rifle gold at the Shymkent Shooting Plaza in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, outlasting China’s 16-year-old Peng Xinlu in the 24-shot final on Friday.

Taking aim on day five of the 16th Asian Shooting Championship (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun), Elavenil posted 253.6 — an Asian finals record — in a classy display, as the Chinese shooter fell 0.6 short. Korean shooter Kwon Eunji bagged the bronze.

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This was the Indian’s second individual gold in the event at the Asian Championships, having earlier won in Taoyuan, China, in 2019. Teammate Mehuli Ghosh fell short of the podium, finishing fourth with 208.9.

Elavenil was fourth after the first series of five single shots, before moving to joint fourth after the second. Over the next 14 single shots, she shot nothing less than 10.5, with the 13th being a perfect 10.9.

In the junior women’s air rifle, the trio of Shambhavi Kshirsagar, Hrudya Sri Kondur, and Isha Anil Taksale combined to give India the team gold in the event — with a World and Asian record to boot. Their tally of 1896.2 was a huge 11.3 better than the second-placed Chinese team.

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

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 double Olympic bronze medallist — partnering Afrah Almohammad.

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

The mixed team skeet junior contest is a straight fight between India and hosts Kazakhstan, with both pairs of both nations slated to play the medal matches later in the day.

India sits comfortably on top of the medal tally with 17 gold, eight silver, and seven bronze medals at last count. China was a distant second with seven gold and 13 medals overall.