CHENNAI: Elavenil Valarivan was a definition of poise on Friday.
With a series of impressive sky-scrapers on her scoresheet, the rifle shooter held her own against multiple rivals, who kept her honest until the end of the women's 10m air rifle event in the ongoing Asian Championships in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
The final, which featured a total of eight shooters, was an open battle until the closing stages with China's Peng Xinlu, Korea's Kwon Eun-ji in the mix for the gold medal. The atmosphere was tense with fellow shooters and coaches, who are part of the continental event, following the action up close from the stands. The signs of nerves was clear when both Elavenil and Kwon, uncharacteristically, strayed. In the 19th shot, Elavenil hit a 10 (a massive lapse in the context of the final). Kwon also returned with a below-par 10.1, but had shaded the Indian a couple of rounds earlier to take a slender lead.
But Elavenil recalibrated and followed it up with a near-perfect 10.8 in the very next round. And from then on, she never looked back. Kwon, meanwhile, finished third after a disastrous (under the circumstances) 9.9.
Peng did well to return with high scores in the last two rounds but Elavenil was as impressive, thereby signalling her victory. Elavenil seemed relieved to have passed this testing battle as she leaned towards her rifle and took a moment for herself. As the dust settled, Elavenil, who has her roots in Tamil Nadu, had not just won gold but had also re-raised the Asian Record (253.6). The previous milestone of 252.9 was held by her senior compatriot Apurvi Chandela, which was established during the Delhi World Cup in early 2019.
Elavenil has made a habit of raising the bar and this is a welcome result ahead of her before the World Championships which is set be held at Cairo, Egypt, in November. Earlier during the Munich World Cup, her first competitive match at an international this season, the Arjuna awardee had shattered the qualification national record.
The fact that she was not well going into the match makes it even more impressive. India rifle head coach Deepali Deshpande, who was by her side during the finals, was far from surprised with Elavenil's steely display. "Ela was not well for a couple of days. She was a little jittery. She was exceptional in the final. I wouldn't just say exceptional, she is what she is. She has been brilliant every time. All the six (top six in the finals) were very close initially but she didn't blink. She was on her path throughout. Now, this has become her comfort zone. She is focussed and she knows what she needs to do. I'm glad that we got one individual gold," Deepali told The New Indian Express from Shymkent. Elavenil's gold is India's second in the senior category in the ongoing competition.
The 26-year-old's precision in the final might have been gold standard but she was far from her best during the qualification stage. With a tally of 630.7, she had made the cut for the finals as seventh-best shooter. Mehuli Ghosh, the other Indian in the finals who finished fourth, had accumulated 630.3 while Ananya Naidu, who is still learning the ropes at the elite level, had just missed out on a berth in the final after returning with 630.
"In the qualification, Ela was not happy with her performance and rightfully so. We were also not happy, her average (score) is 633, 634. They always want to be there. They are prepared for that level of competition now. So 630.7 is not Ela's level of shooting. Nevertheless, she got the opportunity to shoot in the finals and she made the most of it."
However, their combined tally of 1891 helped them fetch the bronze medal in the team bronze.
Juniors' record hit
The junior women's rifle shooters comprising Shambhavi Kshirsagar, Hrudya Sri Kondur and Isha Anil Taksale showed promise, especially during the qualification stage, but missed out on individual medals.
The trio set the stage on fire with a combined tally of 1896.2 — a World Record mark — to clinch team gold.
Mixed team bronze
Skeet shooters from India kept up their good run as the combination of Ganemat Sekhon and Abhay Singh Sekhon returned with a bronze medal in the skeet mixed team event. The Indian duo got the better of Abdullah Al-Rashidi and Afrah Almohammad in the bronze medal match.
