Rio de Janerio: Elavenil Valarivan bagged her first-ever senior gold medal in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage in Brazil.
Valarivan, in her debut year at the senior level, scored 251.7 points in the finals on Wednesday to win the coveted gold even as the likes of Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela finished out of the medal bracket by finishing at sixth and 11th position respectively.
The 20-year-old has become only the third Indian shooter after Chandela and Anjali Bhagwat to win a senior ISSF World Cup gold in the 10m Air Rifle event.
As India has already secured the maximum of two Olympic quotas in the women’s 10m Air Rifle category, the Olympic quota went to Ying-Shin Lin from Chinese Taipei who finished with a bronze and the second quota was won by Iran.
Olympic medallist Gagan Narang also took to Twitter to congratulate Valarivan and said: “National Sports Day gets sweeter. Elavenil Valarivan wins her first senior World Cup on the day GNSPF’s efforts are recognised through the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar. Thanking the universe!”
Earlier this year, Valarivan had narrowly missed a place on the podium at the ISSF World Cup in Munich where she finished fourth in the final with a score of 208.3.
