Shooter Elavenil of India wins silver in Asian Games 2026

IBNS-CMEDIA: India began its medal campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on a strong note on Sunday, with shooter Elavenil Valarivan winning silver in the women’s 10m air rifle individual final.

Japan’s Hinata Taichi clinched the gold medal with an Asian Games record score of 253.0, while South Korea’s Ban Hyojin took bronze. Elavenil finished with 252.4 points, just 0.6 points behind the Japanese shooter.

Elavenil entered the final in confident fashion, taking an early lead after the opening series with a score of 53.1. Her Indian teammate Sonam Maskar was seventh with 52.1.

The contest remained closely fought for several rounds before Hinata gradually gained momentum.

Elavenil scored 10.5 with her 21st shot and moved into second place after her 22nd, reaching 231.9 points. Hinata was narrowly ahead at 232.2.

In the tense closing stages, Elavenil managed 10.1 with her final shot, while Hinata produced a 10.2 to hold on to the gold medal.

Earlier in the day, Elavenil, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod had won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, giving India its first confirmed medal of the Games. China won gold, while hosts Japan took bronze.

India also enjoyed a dominant start in women’s hockey, defeating Uzbekistan 19-0 in their opening Pool B match. Deepika was the standout performer, scoring eight goals.

The Indian women’s table tennis team also opened its campaign with a 3-0 victory over Indonesia in their Group F match. Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade won their respective matches to complete the sweep.

In women’s cricket, India defeated Bangladesh by 114 runs in the semifinal to book a place in the gold-medal match. India will face Sri Lanka in the final on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, PV Sindhu advanced to the Asian Games quarterfinals after defeating Kazakhstan’s Kamila Smagulova 21-7, 21-9 in 24 minutes.