ISSF World Cup Munich: Elavenil clinches bronze in 10m Air Rifle

Indian shooting ace Elavenil Valarivan opened India’s medal account at the ISSF World Cup in Munich by clinching bronze medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event on the first day of competition.

The 25-year-old Olympian led for a major portion of the final but eventually settled for third place with a score of 231.2. Chinese teenage prodigy Wang Zifei, just 18, won the gold with a brilliant 252.7, narrowly edging out Korea’s Kwon Eunji, who took silver with 252.6.

Elavenil started with a 10.7 followed by a 10.8 to establish early dominance. At the 5 shots mark, she trailed Kwon by just 0.3 points. Elavenil was leading the pecking order after 12 shots with 127.2 with Wang in close second.

A pair of 10.1s momentarily pushed her down the rankings, but a strong 10.7 brought her back into medal contention. She continued to hold the top spot until disaster struck — a 9.8 on her penultimate shot saw her slip to third, just as Wang and Kwon surged ahead with near-perfect series.

In the qualification round, Elavenil finished second with a total of 635.9 across six series. She trailed only Wang Zifei, whose score of 637.9 set a new qualification world record. Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad (635.7) and Kwon Eunji (635.6) followed close behind.

Elavenil shared her happiness after match, "It's really good, very intense, very competitive. I am glad I am getting a chance to be with best in the world and do my best. My senior world cup medal was in Rio in 2019, I followed it up in 2023. Munich was left out I am glad that Munich happened now. A good learning for me. I have been trying lot of things with my shooting. Glad I did the work here and it was fruitful. Small dedication to my brother, he is getting married and its his birthday tomorrow."

India’s national champion Ananya Naidu placed 15th with 632.4, while Ramita Jindal, competing for ranking points only (RPO), scored 632.6 to finish 13th. Meghana Sajjanar (RPO) came in 25th and Arya Borse finished 60th.

This bronze marks a notable improvement for Elavenil, who had finished fourth at the same venue in 2019. Her strong showing not only underlines her consistency at the top level but also gives India a promising start in the prestigious rifle and pistol competition in Munich.

In the men’s 10m air pistol event, Varun Tomar also reached the final after qualifying in second place with a score of 585 across six series. However, he couldn’t replicate that form in the final and finished sixth with 160.3 points.

The gold medal in this event went to China’s Kai Hu, who shot 242.3. Kazakhstan’s Valeriy Rakhimzhan took silver with 241.9, while Germany’s Christian Reitz, a former Olympic champion, secured bronze with 220.8.