ISSF World Championships
Cairo, Nov 8: Two-time Olympian Elavenil Valarivan came up with a heart-stopping performance before signing off with a bronze medal in women’s 10m air rifle event, while veteran army marksman Ravinder Singh brought India more glory by clinching gold in men’s 50m free pistol at the ISSF World Championships, here on Saturday.
On a day when the 26-year-old Elavenil looked good to take the top podium spot after grabbing the lead in the final, a heartbreak moment happened when she scored a 10.0 on the 19th shot to slip to third from where she lost momentum and could manage a poor 9.9 on the 22nd shot to finish in third place with a score of 232.0.
South Korea’s 2024 Paris Games champion Ban Hyojin won gold with a score of 255, while China’s junior world champion Wang Zifei, who trailed Valarivan till the 19th shot, took the silver with a score of 254 in the highly-competitive Olympic event.
The Indian women’s team of Elavenil, Meghana Sajjanar and Shreya Agrawal won the bronze with an aggregate of 1893.3, while China (1901.7) and South Korea (1899.9) took the gold and silver respectively.
In the qualification round, whose scores are considered for team medals, Valarivan shot 633.4, while Meghana and Shreya scored 631.2 and 628.7 respectively.
Valarivan’s 633.4 helped her make it to the eight-player individual final in fifth place, while Meghana finished 17th and Shreya 33rd.
“Definitely one of the most intense finals that I have ever been a part of,” said Valarivan after the final.
Valarivan was tied for the top spot with Hyojin at 148.5 after the 14th shot. She hit a superb 10.7 and 10.9 on the 16th and 17th shots to emerge leader but pressure got to her in the end.
Ravinder Singh, the 29-year-old Naik Subeadar in the Indian Army, achieved the biggest success in his shooting career by winning gold in 50m pistol, a non-Olympic discipline.
Ravinder, who hails from Bishnah town in Jammu & Kashmir, had won an individual and team bronze in the 2023 edition of the Worlds in Baku.
Ravinder, who has been in and out of the India squad since 2019, shot a superb 569 to take the top spot ahead of Kim Cheongyong of South Korea, who shot 556, and Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Anton Aristarkhov (556) who settled for the bronze.
The National Games silver medallist in 10m air pistol earlier this year, started with a low score of 93 but gathered momentum to score 98, 94, 95, 93 and 96 in the next five rounds to aggregate 569 in a field of 47 shooters.
The Indian team, comprising Ravinder (569), Kamaljeet (540) and Yogesh Kumar (537), took the silver with an aggregate of 1646. South Korea totalled 1648 to win the gold medal, while Ukraine took the bronze with a combined total of 1644.
A total of 11 teams were in the fray. (PTI)
