Elavenil Valarivan Makes History With 10m Air Rifle Silver, Misses Gold by 0.6

Elavenil Valarivan added a second medal to India's Asian Games 2026 tally, taking silver in the women's 10m air rifle individual final. She finished on 252.4, just 0.6 points behind gold medallist Hinata Taichi of Japan. Taichi's 253.0 is a new Asian Games record. Ban Hyojin of South Korea took bronze with 230.4.

It is also a historic result. Elavenil became the first Indian woman to win an individual silver in the 10m air rifle event at the Asian Games.

She was in front for most of the final. Elavenil led after the first five shots with 53.1 and stayed on top through the elimination stages. Taichi kept close and the gold came down to the last two shots. Elavenil shot 10.4 and Taichi answered with 10.6. Elavenil then shot 10.1 on the final shot, but Taichi held her nerve with a 10.2.

It was a busy morning at the Aichi Shooting Range for Elavenil. She had already won team silver earlier in the day, along with Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod. That was India's first medal of these Games. Sonam Maskar also reached the individual final and finished sixth with 167.0.

India now have two silver medals from shooting on the opening day. The men's 10m air rifle event and the skeet competition begin on Monday.