A disappointing Olympic cycle followed by a rigorous training programme bore fruit on Tuesday when Elavenil Valarivan clinched bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
The medal came with a new qualification national record score of 635.9, as Elavenil entered the 8-woman final in the second spot. The earlier NR was of 634.7 registered by Nancy in 2023.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Elavenil, who had participated in the Tokyo and Paris Games but finished outside the medal bracket, looked poised in her first international (medal match) after the Paris Games. The Ahmedabad shooter didn’t shoot any series of 10 shots below 105.2, while her highest series was the fifth, where she shot 107.2, best in the 167-shooter field that included Paris Games gold medallist Hyojin Ban of South Korea.
In the final, Elavenil consistently maintained her position in the top-3 and also took the first spot in between. She was in the first position after the 20th shot, but a 9.8 in the 21st shot pulled her down to the third position.
China’s Zifei Wang won gold with a score of 252.7 and South Korea’s Eunji Kwon won silver with 252.6. Wang also registered a new qualification World Record with a whopping 637.9.
“I have been working hard since a long time and a medal is always a good way to learn that you are on the right path. I am happy that I shot well, the way I wanted to. I enjoyed shooting today and that makes me happy,” Elavenil told TOI after her match. “I had not set any target for this match. I just wanted to go out and enjoy and that is what I did.”
Other Indians, debutante Ananya Naidu (632.4) and Arya Borse (628.2) finished 15th and 60th.
In the men’s 10m air pistol event, Varun Tomar finished sixth after shooting 160.3 in the final.
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