Upping her game when it mattered to bag her second gold at the prestigious tournament, Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won the women's 10m air rifle event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol competition in Rio de Janeiro. (More Sports News)
Elavenil had won her maiden senior World Cup gold too in Rio de Janeiro, in August 2019.
Elavenil never scored below 10.1 throughout the series of 24 shots, and was perfection personified in the strong eight-woman final field.
The 24-year-old from Cuddalore finished with a score of 252.2 to outgun France's 20-year-old sensation Oceanne Muller, who won silver with 251.9. China's Zhang Jiale bagged the bronze.
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The going wasn’t easy for Elavenil en route the final, though. She had qualified for the final in the eighth and last spot with a score of 630.5.
Muller had topped with 633.7. Two Chinese shooters Zhang Jiale and Zhang Yu (Olympian) and reigning European champion Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway were also among the finalists.
In the men's 10m air rifle event, Sandeep Singh, India's lone contender, shot 628.2 in qualification to finish in the 14th spot.
On Friday, Elavenil had teamed up with Sandeep in the 10m air rifle mixed team event to finish fifth with a combined score of 629.1.
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The fourth and final medal round spot went to Israel, who were 0.5 points ahead of the Indian pair in the 42-team field.
While Elavenil shot 314.8, Sandeep shot 314.3 as the Indians narrowly missed a shot at bronze. Israel did win bronze eventually, while Germany won gold and the silver went to Hungary.
A 16-member Indian team is taking part in the Rio World Cup in as many as seven Olympic events. Italy lead the medal standings with two gold while India are joint third with Armenia. Eleven countries have earned medals at the World Cup so far.
