Elavenil Valarivan Clinches Second Gold at Rio World Cup Rifle/Pistol Stage

Indian Olympian Elavenil Valarivan has secured her second gold medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage, being held at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio De Janeiro.

Valarivan displayed exceptional precision in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle competition, consistently achieving scores above 10.1 throughout the 24 shots. Her final score was an impressive 252.2, outperforming France’s 20-year-old sensation Oceanne Muller, who secured the silver with 251.9 points. China’s Zhang Jiale clinched the bronze.

In the qualifying round held earlier on Saturday, Valarivan secured the eighth and final spot with a score of 630.5, while Muller topped the qualifiers with 633.7 points. The finals also featured Chinese shooters Zhang Jiale and Zhang Yu, along with reigning European champion Jeanette Hegg Duestad from Norway.

Zhang Jiale initially led after the first five shots with a score of 53.4, while Valarivan was in joint second place with two others, scoring 52.6. After the next five shots, Valarivan’s score of 52.1 helped her secure the joint lead alongside the second Chinese shooter, Zhang Yu.

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Austrian shooter Marlene Pribitzer was the first to be eliminated in eighth place after 12 shots, marking her first ISSF World Cup final appearance. The battle intensified among the Indian, Oceanne Meller, Jeanette Hegg Duestad, and the two Chinese shooters.

After 16 shots, Oceanne was leading, followed by Duestad and Valarivan. However, Valarivan’s impressive 10.9 score for her 17th shot pushed her up to the second position after 18 shots, trailing Oceanne by just one point and leading Duestad and Zhang Jiale by 0.5 points.

Oceanne and Valarivan demonstrated exceptional mental strength, consistently delivering solid shots until the end. In the final two shots, Valarivan maintained a 0.5-point lead over Oceanne, ultimately securing victory. Despite Oceanne’s strong performance with scores of 10.8 and 10.6, Valarivan emerged triumphant with a 0.3-point margin.

In the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event, India’s Sandeep Singh finished 14th in the qualification round with a score of 628.2.

During Friday’s events, Elavenil Valarivan partnered with Sandeep in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, finishing fifth with a combined score of 629.1. Israel secured the fourth and final medal-round spot, narrowly ahead of the Indian pair by 0.5 points. Israel eventually won the bronze, while Germany claimed gold, and Hungary took silver.

A 16-member Indian team is participating in the Rio World Cup across seven Olympic events. Italy leads the medal standings with two gold medals, while India is joint third with Armenia, as a total of 11 nations have won medals in the World Cup so far.

-IANS