New Delhi: For 21 of the 24 shots, Elavenil Valarivan showed few signs of nervousness while leading the eight-shooter final.
Shooting with exemplary composure and precision, Elavenil consistently hit the inner-10s and looked on course for a wire-to-wire win in the women’s 10m air rifle competition. But such are the vagaries of this sport that individual standings are also a function of how well the other shooters are firing. On paper, the Indian had the upper hand, and to her credit, her shooting justified the pedigree. But sport is seldom, if ever, determined by data alone. This was Elavenil’s second medal of the day, coming within a couple of hours after the team silver where she combined with Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod.
And firing rather steadily was local girl Taichi Hinata who pipped the Indian to the post with a Games record score of 253. Coming into the competition, the 21-year-old Japanese, ranked 49th in the world, was yet to win an international medal. Elavenil, 27, is a former world No.1 and current world No.7, a two-time Olympian, a two-time Asian Championships gold medallist, a World Championships medallist, and a multiple World Cup medallist. “I’ve been to one Asian Games (2018) and two Olympics (2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris) and was yet to win a Games medal. The Indian trio tallied 1898 points to finish behind China who took gold with a world record score of 1904.2. Japan was third with a team score of 1897.1 points.
This is my first and I’ll cherish it for a long time,” Elavenil said.
She was very raw in 2018 and couldn’t make the team in 2023 for Hangzhou. I’m relieved that she has gone beyond the bronze,” Chavan said, referring to Elavenil’s third-place results at the 2025 World Championships in Cairo and Munich World Cup last year. “Last 2-3 shots can rattle the best.
Watching the final in India, her long-time coach Neha Chavan was delighted. “It’s a medal we have been chasing for a while. We knew we needed to work on her finals and we had prepared a lot for that. The shooter, on her part, is holding off the celebrations until the mixed team event where she’ll pair with Parth Mane. “I feel my breath control could have been better, especially in the final few shots. There is a bit of disappointment especially after building a healthy lead. Coach Chavan agreed. Before you know, your mind starts playing tricks. You lose the sense of the present. The body starts behaving differently. The heart rate that was steady until then starts to go haywire.
“There are a few areas to focus on,” she said. I look at it as a learning opportunity,” she said while insisting that pressure didn’t get the better of her. You are taught to shoot between beats, but neither your mind nor your body is steady,” she said.
