CHENNAI: Elavenil Valarivan continues to set the bar high.
Whatever she has touched this season has turned into something productive. She returned to competitive action with a bang, pocketing a bronze medal at the famed Munich World Cup before going on to rewrite the Asian record during the Asian Championships in Shymkent in August.
On Saturday, she maintained the trend as the shooter from Ahmedabad captured one of the biggest individual medals of her senior career. The double Olympian returned with a bronze medal at the Egypt International Olympic City in Cairo at the ISSF World Championships.
In the eight-woman 10m air rifle final, where there's no room for mistakes, Elavenil was a picture of consistency after starting with an impressive 10.8 (.1 shy of perfect). It was not the best series but it was a solid foundation to build on and she did just that in the following five-shot series, putting herself in podium contention in the process. But with other champion shooters like Ban Hyojin (Korea), Wang Zifei (China), Han Jiayu (China) and Kwon Eunji (Korea), to name a few, also chasing glory, the job was far from over from the 26-year-old. As the elimination rounds kicked off, the competition heat amplified. But Elavenil, who has her roots in Tamil Nadu, remained ice cool. Following some impressive hits, Elavenil elevated herself to contention for gold.
With just the top-three remaining, the top prize was well within her reach and the momentum was clearly on her side. However, the Indian erred for the first time, scoring 10.0, which virtually put a stop to her golden pursuit on the day. The disappointment reflected on her face as both Wang, the standout shooter this season, and Ban, the reigning Olympic champion, cashed in on her mistake to take charge. In fact, Ban demonstrated why she is the woman for the big stage as she was clutch (her lowest hit was 10.4) throughout the highly-engrossing final. She returned with some big pointers when the situation demanded. Wang had to settle as second-best as Ban walked away as the world champ with a tally of 255.
For Elavenil, having come so close to the top, she would have been gutted but given the standard of shooting in recent years and given how she navigated most parts of the competition, it's a step in the right direction. Coach Neha Chavan, who has been a massive influence in Elavenil's career, felt it was the latter's ability to adapt and evolve that has made her a serial podium finisher over the years.
"With experience, she understood the process, she has learnt to adapt and keep evolving. That has helped her cause. Today's (Saturday) performance was a solid one as she was up against a tough field. As a shooter she is the same, she never questions our methods and continues to follow what we tell her," Neha, who has known the shooter for over a decade, said. Moreover, as the coach had highlighted after her aforementioned medal in Munich, Elavenil has been pursuing the craft with a healthy dose of enjoyment.
In the midst of drama and some incredible shooting in the highly-engaging finals, sometimes the qualification stage can be forgotten. Moreover, the qualification stage is not on TV and many, despite their high potential, quietly fade off. It's the initial hurdle that Indians, once upon a time, struggled to get past.
Now, the standards of that have risen ten fold, especially in world-level competitions. In the morning, Meghana Sajjanar and Shreya Agrawal, had faced that reality. Elavenil had shot a tally of 633.3 in the said stage to enter the final as fifth-best qualifier. Ban, the eventual winner, had barely qualified with a score of 633.
Neha said that her ward had actively worked on raising the standards in recent years. "As was evident on Saturday, the standard of shooting has risen over the years. Even 630 is not good enough at the qualifying stage, so she had worked on that as she has had her share of struggles in the past. Even in the country, the competition has risen and the scores are really high. The shooters have recognised that and that has pushed them a great deal."
Elavenil has been in the business for over eight years or so at the elite level and has established herself as one of the most reliable performers. With a fair amount of wisdom, she now seems to be on the cusp of reaching another level.
