Elavenil Valarivan doubles up with individual silver in 10m air rifle

NAGAOYA: India's Elavenil Valarivan added an individual silver to the team silver she won earlier in the day, finishing runner-up in the women's 10m air rifle event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, here on Sunday.

The 2025 world championship bronze medallist shot 252.4 points in the final to finish behind Japan's Hinata Taichi, who won gold with an Asian Games record 253.0. South Korea's Hyojin Ban took bronze with 230.4.

Elavenil entered the final two shots just 0.3 points behind Taichi and remained in contention after shooting 10.4 to the Japanese shooter's 10.6, which stretched the gap to 0.5.

Needing a strong final shot to turn the tables, Elavenil managed 10.1, but Taichi held her nerve with a 10.2 to seal the gold and set a new Asian Games record.

The silver was Elavenil's second medal of the day after she helped India win silver in the women's 10m air rifle team event earlier on Sunday, alongside Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod.

India now have two shooting medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games -- both silver, giving an encouraging start to their shooting campaign after they had produced a record 22-medal haul -- seven gold, nine silver and six bronze -- at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Mixed Martial Arts fighter Suchika Tariyal was the first to assure the country of a medal in women’s Traditional MMA 60kg after reaching the semifinals.