Indian Olympian and shooter Elavenil Valarivan secured a gold medal in the women’s 10 m air rifle event at the on-going International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Elavenil was perfection personified in the strong eight-woman final field, never scoring below 10.1 throughout the 24 shots. She secured a gold by firing 252.2 points in the final of the event. This is India’s first medal in the tournament. In the second place was France’s Oceanne Muller. She scored 251.9 points, falling just short of the Indian.
The third position was grabbed by China’s Jiale Zhang, scoring 229 points. Sports Authority of India (SAI) Media shared the news of Elavenil’s win on their X (Formerly Twitter) handle. Elavenil had qualified for the final at eighth and final spot with a score of 630.5. Muller had topped with 633.7. Two Chinese shooters Zhang Jiale and Zhang Yu (Olympian) and reigning European champion Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway were also among the finalists.
In the men’s 10m air rifle event, Sandeep Singh, India’s lone contender, shot 628.2 in qualification to finish in the 14th spot. On Friday, Elavenil had teamed up with Sandeep in the 10m air rifle mixed team event to finish fifth with a combined score of 629.1. The Rio event will be the last ISSF World Cup for rifles and pistol shooters in 2023 before the finals in Doha, Qatar, from November 18 to 27. The Indian shooters chosen for the Asian Games 2023, which begin on September 23 in Hangzhou, China, have chosen to skip the Rio World Cup.
India finished with four medals – one gold, two silvers, and one bronze – at the May ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol shooters in Baku, Azerbaijan. At the ISSF World Cups staged so far in 2023, Indian shooters have won a total of 23 medals – seven gold, four silver, and 12 bronze. The Indians are presently fourth in the medal standings.
