NEW DELHI: Elavenil Valarivan narrowly missed out on gold after producing a strong performance in the women’s 10m air rifle individual final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, settling for silver with a cumulative score of 252.4.Japan’s Taichi Hinata clinched gold with 253.0, while South Korea’s Ban Hyojin took bronze with 230.4.The 27-year-old Indian shooter was in contention for the top spot throughout the final but fell just 0.6 points short of Hinata. The silver adds to the medal she had already won in the team event and further underlines her consistency at the Games.Elavenil had earlier combined with Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod to win silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, giving India its first medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games.The Indian trio finished with a team total of 1898 points, behind gold medallists China, while Japan finished fourth.Elavenil was India’s standout performer in the team competition, scoring 633.5 points to qualify for the individual final. Sonam also made the final and finished sixth with a cumulative score of 167.0.
From team silver to individual silver
The individual final featured a strong Asian field, with shooters from India, Japan, China and South Korea. Elavenil was drawn at firing point E in the start list, alongside compatriot Sonam, Japan’s Taichi Hinata and Nobata Misaki, China’s Han Jiayu and Wang Zifei, and South Korea’s Ban Hyojin and Kwon Yuna.Having already contributed to India’s team silver, Elavenil entered the individual competition with another medal opportunity and remained firmly in the gold-medal race until the closing stages.Her silver gives India a second medal in the women’s 10m air rifle competition and keeps the shooting contingent at the centre of the country’s medal campaign.Earlier, Suchika Tariyal also assured India of a medal after defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa to reach the semifinals of the women’s traditional 60kg MMA event. Her win secured India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in MMA, which is making its debut at the Games.For Elavenil, however, the event ended with silver, a strong finish, but one that came agonisingly close to gold.