Elavenil joins Sonam, Vidarsa for second-place team finish before winning individual medal
India opened their shooting campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a double-silver haul, as Elavenil Valarivan won silver in both the women’s 10m air rifle team and individual events on Sunday.
Elavenil first combined with Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod to win team silver with 1898.0 points, behind China’s 1904.2. Japan took bronze with 1897.1.
She then added an individual silver with 252.4 points, finishing just 0.6 behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who won gold with an Asian Games record 253.0. South Korea’s Ban Hyo-jin took bronze with 230.4.
It was Elavenil’s first individual Asian Games medal after competing at the 2018 Jakarta and 2022 Hangzhou editions without reaching the podium.
Elavenil had appeared in control for much of the final, but Taichi moved ahead in the closing stages. After the 17th shot, Elavenil held a 1.4-point advantage over Ban, while Taichi was third.
In qualification, Sonam scored 634.1, Elavenil 633.5 and Vidarsa 630.4. Vidarsa missed the individual final but contributed to India’s team silver on her Asian Games debut.
India’s twin silvers provided an opening to the shooting campaign after the country won 22 medals at the Hangzhou Games, including seven golds, nine silvers and six bronzes.
