Elavenil Valarivan spearheaded India’s shooting campaign at the 2026 Asian Games on Sunday, winning two silver medals as the country opened its medal account on the first day of competition.
The 27-year-old Olympian finished second in the women’s 10m air rifle individual final after earlier combining with Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa Kochalumkal Vinod to claim silver in the team event at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery.
Elavenil misses gold narrowly
Elavenil produced a consistent performance in the individual final, shooting 252.4 to finish just 0.6 points behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who won gold with an Asian Games record of 253.0.
South Korea’s Olympic champion Ban Hyojin took bronze with 230.4, while India’s Sonam, who also qualified for the eight-shooter final, finished sixth with 167.0.
Elavenil remained firmly in contention for gold through much of the final and led for a significant stretch before Hinata moved ahead in the closing stages. The Indian entered the final two shots only 0.3 points behind the Japanese shooter, keeping the contest alive until the last shot.
The silver marked Elavenil’s first individual Asian Games medal.
Team opens India’s account
Earlier, Elavenil, Sonam and Vidarsa delivered India’s first medal of the Games by finishing second in the women’s 10m air rifle team competition.
The team event was decided on the aggregate scores from qualification. India finished with 1,898.0 points, while China dominated the competition with a world-record total of 1,904.2 to take gold. Hosts Japan claimed bronze with 1,897.1, just 0.9 points behind India.
Sonam led the Indian qualifying effort with 634.1 points, finishing third overall. Elavenil shot 633.5 to qualify seventh, while Vidarsa contributed 630.4 and finished 12th in the individual standings.
China’s Wang Zifei topped qualification with 636.8, while Han Jiayu scored 633.8 and Du Yuchen 633.6 as the Chinese trio established the new world record.
Double delight for Elavenil
The two medals made Elavenil the standout Indian shooter on the opening day. Having already helped secure the team silver, she returned to the range for the individual final and came within a handful of decimal points of gold.
After the final, Elavenil acknowledged that she had relaxed slightly towards the closing stages and said she needed to work further on her performances in finals.
India’s shooting contingent will look to build on the strong start when competition resumes on Monday. Medals will be decided in the men’s 10m air rifle individual and team events, while qualification in the men’s and women’s skeet competitions will also begin.