Shooting World Cup Finals: 20-year-old Elavenil Valarivan bags gold, shoots ahead in the race for Tokyo

On Thursday, young Indian shooting sensation Elavenil Valarivan clinched the gold medal at the ongoing season-ending ISSF World Cup Final in Putian, China. The 20-year-old shot a score of 250.8 in the final of Women's Air Rifle to top the podium in a tough pool. With the result, Elavenil is all set to end the year on a high as she will become the new World No. 1. Furthermore, this gold should increase her chances of making the cut for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Earlier, Elavenil and Mehuli Ghosh qualified for the Women's Air rifle final while experienced campaigners, World No 1 Apurvi Chandela and World No 2 Anjum Moudgil missed out. At the end of the qualification stage, Elavenil stood second (631.1), Mehuli stood 6th (629.3), Anjum 13th (624.9) and Apurvi 15th (622.7).

Elavenil edged past Taiwan's Lin Ying-Shin (250.7), Romania's Laura-Georgeta Coman finished third with a score of 229. It was a nail-biting contest between Elavenil and Ying-Shin in the final with the two going toe-to-toe but eventually, it was the Indian shooter who had the last laugh. Mehuli, on the other hand, finished sixth in the final with a score of 163.8.