New Delhi, February 7
Olympian Elavenil Valarivan held off the challenge from Japan's Misaki Nobata to clinch gold in the 10m Air Rifle women's event as Shambhavi Kshirsagar broke the Asian Junior Finals Record enroute to win gold in the junior category in the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship, New Delhi 20206 which is being held here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range on Saturday.
Meghana Sajjanar joined Elavenil on the podium after securing the bronze medal, while Manyata Singh and Aneesha Sharma, along with Shambhavi, ensured India swept the Junior women's podium, as per a press release from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Indian continued their dominance in the championship, racking up ten gold medals on day four of competitions to take their total medal tally to 43 medals, including 27 gold, 10 silver and eight bronze. Ojasvi Thakur secured the gold in the women's youth category.
India started the day sweeping the podium in the 50m Men's Pistol event with former 10m Air Pistol World No 1, Saurabh Chaudhary winning the gold, followed by Kamaljeet Chaudhary and current World Champion Ravinder Singh winning silver and bronze respectively. Yogesh Kumar won gold in the junior category of the event.
Elavenil was placed fifth after the end of two series, but slowly clawed her back into the lead by the 18th shot. She kept her composure until the end to remain at the top of the pack with Nobata Misaki and Meghana close behind. Arya Borse who was in medal positions until the 18th shot, missed out after hitting a low 9.8, which was followed by two 10.2's. Nobata finished her finals with two back-to-back 10.8's, but Elavenil scored ten hits, which was 10.6 in the elimination stage, including one 10.9. The Indian trio also won the team gold with a combined score of 1892.6.
In the Junior finals, Shambhavi created a new Asian Junior record of 253.7, eclipsing the 253.1 which was created by Isha Anil Taksale in Jakarta in 2024. She was in her dominating best from the start and continued that momentum to win the gold with a massive four-point difference over Manyata Singh, who finished on 249.7. Shambhavi's last eight shots read, 10.7, 10.7, 10.8, 10.8, 10.9, 10.5, 10.9 and 10.7, highlighting her dominance. Aneesha Sharma secured bronze with a final score of 227.5. Shambhavi and Aneesh, along with Sandrata Roy, combined to win the team gold with a score of 1884.2.
Ojasvi Thakur ensured India won all gold medals on offer in the day, winning gold in the Youth category with a final score of 250.4. Sri Lanka's Umaya Ovitigala Withanage won silver, while Yasmin Figila Achadiat won the bronze. Ojasvi teamed up with Anvii Vikram Rathod and Hrudya Shri Kondur to win the team gol,d also with a score of 1890.6
-Other Results
*50m Pistol Men
Gold - Saurabh Chaudhary (India) - 563-12x
Silver - Kamaljeet Chaudhary (India) - 561-16x
Bronze - Ravinder Singh (India) - 559-10x
*50m Pistol Men Team
Gold - India
Silver - Uzbekistan
Bronze - Vietnam
*50m Pistol Junior Men
Gold - Yogesh Kumar (India) - 557-10x
Silver - Sodikjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) - 544-10x
Bronze - Guntajpreet Singh (India) - 542-7x
The mixed team medals in Air Rifle will be decided tomorrow.
- ANI
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