ISSF World Cup: Elavenil bags bronze

Indian shooting ace Elavenil Valarivan settled for the bronze medal after leading for a good part in the women’s 10m air rifle final in the ISSF World Cup here on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old shot 231.2 to finish third on the podium behind Chinese 18-year-old sensation Wang Zifei, who won gold with 252.7, and Korea’s silver medallist Kwon Eunji (252.6).
The two-time Olympian started with a high 10.7 to set the tone in the final, before coming up with a 10.8 in her next shot.
She was just 0.3 points behind Korean Olympic champion Kwon Eunji after the first five shots. Elavenil shot another 10.8 to move into the top spot ahead of Zifei. The 25-year-old was leading the pecking order after 12 shots with 127.2 with Wang in close second. A couple of 10.1s was followed by a 10.7, bringing her back into contention after she slipped out of top three.
The Indian, who finished fourth in the World Cup here in 2018, maintained her lead with a 10.7. However, disaster struck as she shot 9.8 to slip to third.
Earlier in the day, Elavenil was second in the qualifications with a total score of 635.9 across six series, finishing ahead of Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad (635.7) and behind 18-year-old Chinese sensation Wang Zifei (637.9), who shot a Qualification World Record. The Indian also notched up the qualification national record, finishing second with a score of 635.9, which is almost 10.6 per shot over 60-shots.
Eunji was fourth in qualifications with 635.6, while Turkey’s Elif Berfin Altun (634.6) was in fifth position. Chinese World and Asian Championship gold medallist Han Jiayu qualified for the final in sixth position after shooting 634.2. India’s national champion Ananya Naidu was placed 15th with a total of 632.4, while Ramita Jindal, shooting for ranking points only (RPO), ended 13th with 632.6.
The other Indians in the event, Meghana Sajjanar (RPO) and Arya Borse ended 25th and 60th respectively. In men’s 10m air pistol, Nishant Rawat shot 582 to be placed fifth in Qualification Relay 1, while Aditya Malra was 18th with a score of 578. On day 1 of the women’s 25m pistol qualification (Precision stage), multiple Asian Games medallist Esha Singh shot 294 to be placed fourth, while Paris Olympics double bronze medallist Manu Bhaker was in 12th place with a score of 290.
Simranpreet Kaur Brar shot 288 and was 19th. The rapid-fire round will take place on Wednesday, which will be followed by the final.