Elavenil Valarivan defends 10m air rifle crown, Meghana wins bronze at Asian shooting

Elavenil Valarivan successfully defended her women’s 10m air rifle continental title at the Asian Shooting Championships 2026 in New Delhi on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Valarivan, who had won the same event at the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan’s Shymkent, shot an impressive 252.0 in the final to claim her third individual continental shooting crown.

Valarivan had won her maiden Asian title in 2019. The Indian shooter took the lead as late as in the sixth series but never let it slip till the end. Misaki Nobata, an Olympian like Valarivan, settled for the silver medal in 251.5.

Completing the podium was the 32-year-old Meghana Sajjanar (229.5), who bagged her maiden continental medal, a bronze, after edging out compatriot Arya Borse to the final step.

Earlier in the day, Valarivan had topped the qualification round with a score of 633.7 while Borse (630.3) and Sajjanar (628.6) had finished sixth and seventh, respectively, to make the eight-woman medal round.

The three together also secured the team gold medal for India in the event with a combined score of 1892.6. Japan and Kazakhstan grabbed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Shreya Agrawal (632.0) and Sonam Uttam Maskar (631.9) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the qualifiers but didn’t advance to the medal round as they were shooting for Ranking Points Only (RPO).

The three medals on Saturday took India’s medal tally in senior events at the ongoing championships, which only features rifle and pistol events, up to 11 – six gold, three silver and two bronze.

Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker will be in action on Sunday in the women’s 25m pistol qualifiers.

(Source: Olympics.com)