Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan clinched the gold medal in girls’s 10m air rifle competitors of the sixteenth Asian Championships in Shymkent on Friday (August 22, 2025) with a characteristically composed efficiency within the closing.
The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu, who has gained a number of gold medals in World Cups, shot a rating of 253.6 to complete on prime within the closing and declare her second gold within the continental showpiece, the primary coming manner again in 2019 in Taiwan when she was honing her abilities below the tutelage of Olympic medallist shooter Gagan Narang at his Gun for Glory Academy.
The silver went to China’s Xinlu Peng with a rating of 253, whereas Korea’s Eunji Kwon (231.2) took residence the bronze.
This was Valarivan’s first particular person podium end within the ongoing occasion having gained a silver and bronze within the workforce occasions beforehand.
Another Indian within the fray, Mehuli Ghosh, signed off in fourth place after scoring 208.9 within the eight-shooter closing.
Valarivan had certified eighth for the ultimate with a rating of 630.7. Ghosh had initially completed tenth within the occasion with a rating of 630.3 however made the ultimate as two different higher-placed Indians — Arya Borse (633.2) and Sonam Maskar (630.5) — stepped apart since they had been competing just for rating factors.
Valarivan’s medal was solely the second senior particular person gold for India within the continental showpiece, the place the nation is topping the charts because of a powerful exhibiting by its junior shooters.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka had claimed India’s first senior gold within the males’s skeet occasion. Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker had gained the bronze medal within the girls’s 10m air pistol competitors.
Juniors proceed to dominate
The trio of Shambhavi Shravan, Hrudya Shri Kondur and Isha Anil gained the gold medal within the workforce gold within the girls’s junior 10m air rifle competitors with a mixed complete of 1896.2, which is a junior world and Asian document.
The groups from China and South Korea bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
Consistent Valarivan
One of India’s most constant lady rifle shooters for some years now, Valarivan has repeatedly confirmed her mettle in opposition to the perfect on this planet be it within the World Cup, the season-ending World Cup Finals, or the Asian Championship.
Currently ranked eleventh, she is now set to storm into the top-10 which isn’t an uncharted territory for the Indian ace, having as soon as achieved the world primary rating in her class.
Known for her unwavering focus and psychological fortitude below strain, Valarivan is now aiming for glory at subsequent yr’s Asian Games however earlier than that, she’s going to need to do properly on the ISSF World Championships, the place she has a tea, bronze however no particular person honours.
Besides the Olympics, the Worlds and Asian Games are a number of the occasions by which Valarivan is but to style success within the particular person occasions.
