Ela wins women's air rifle gold, her second in Asian Championships

Shymkent (Kazakhstan), Aug 22 (IANS) The accomplished Elavenil Valarivan, a two-time Olympian, clinched the women’s 10m air rifle gold at the Shymkent Shooting Plaza in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, outlasting China’s 16-year-old Peng Xinlu in the 24-shot final.

Taking aim on day five of the 16th Asian Shooting Championship Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, Ela posted 253.6, an Asian finals record, in a classy display as the Chinese fell 0.6 short. Korean Kwon Eunji bagged the bronze.

This was the Indian’s second individual gold in the event at the Asian Championships, having won in Taoyuan, China, back in 2019. Teammate Mehuli Ghosh, fell short of the podium, finishing fourth with 208.9.

Ela was fourth after the first series of five single shots before moving to joint fourth after the second. Over the next 14 single shots, she shot nothing less than 10.5, with the 13th being a perfect 10.9.

Kwon and Peng were the chasers in chief as Ela did the front running, but the Korean was first to perish under her onslaught, a 9.9 on her 22nd putting paid to her hopes of a higher finish. The Chinese teenager did not flinch till the end, closing with a 10.8, but Ela too closed with a 10.6 and a 10.7, to hold on to her advantage comfortably.

Earlier, both Ela and Mehuli had qualified for the final with score of 630.7 and 630.3, giving them the seventh and eighth qualifying spots respectively. They also combined with Ananya Naidu (630.0) to win the team bronze with a combined score of 1891. China won gold while Korea won silver.

In the junior women’s air rifle, the trio of Shambhavi Kshirsagar, Hrudya Sri Kondur and Isha Anil Taksale, combined to give India the team gold in the event with a World and Asian record to boot. Their tally of 1896.2, was a huge 11.3 better than the second placed Chinese team.

In the individual final however, Shambhavi finished fifth with 186.3, Isha sixth with 165.2 and Hrudya was seventh with a score of 143.2.

In the skeet mixed team, Abhay Singh Sekhon (65) and Ganemat Sekhon (73) shot 138 in qualification to make the second bronze medal match against Kuwait’s Abdullah Alrashidi, a 62-year-old legend of the sport and a double Olympic bronze medalist, partnering Afrah Almohammad.

The Indians prevailed 39-37 in the 48-shots team contest, going into the final station just a point ahead. However, Afrah missed a couple while the other three missed just one of the last four, to secure another senior medal for India.

The mixed team skeet junior contest is a straight fight between India and hosts Kazakhstan with both pairs of both nations slated to play the medal matches later in the day.

India sits comfortably on top of the medal tally with 17 gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals won on last count. China was a distance behind in second with seven gold and 13 medals in all.

--IANS

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