Asian Shooting C’ships: Elavenil and Arjun win mixed team air rifle gold as India crosses 50 medal mark
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Olympians Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta teamed up to clinch a gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event as India crossed the 50 mark in total medals in the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship, New Delhi 2026, which is being held here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range. Himanshu Dhillon and Shambhavi Kshirsagar secured the gold in the junior mixed team event, while Hrudya Shri Kondur and Anshul Batra won a gold medal in the youth mixed team event.
The Rio 2016 Olympian Gurpreet Singh won gold in the 25m Standard Pistol event, leading to a clean sweep of the podium. Harsh Gupta secured silver while Amanpreet Singh won the bronze medal. In the junior category, the Indian shooters repeated the clean sweep with Suraj Sharma, Mukesh Nelavalli, and Tanishq Muralidhar Naidu winning gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively. Both seniors and juniors also won the team gold in their respective categories.
At the end of Day 5 of the competitions, India are far ahead of the competition in the medal tally with a total of 54 medals, including 34 gold, 12 silver, and eight bronze. Uzbekistan are in second place with three gold and one silver, followed by Indonesia with one gold, two silver, and four bronze.
Elavenil continued her gold medal-winning form in the individual event, hitting a total of 253.4 in 24 shots, while Arjun, who started with a 9.5, finished strongly with a total score of 251.6. The pair’s combined total of 505.0 was enough to secure the gold, which was four points more than Kwon Eunji and Kim Woorim, who won silver with a combined score of 501.0. Misaki Nobata and Naoya Okada of Japan won the bronze with a combined score of 437.1.
Himanshu Dhillon and Shambhavi Kshirsagar added a mixed team gold to the yellow metal they won in individual competition, which was won on Saturday in the junior finals. The pair cruised through the final to shoot a combined score of 502.4, which was an astounding 13.8 points more than Alina Satpayeva and Tamerlan Kabulov of Kazakhstan. Eeasha Shaheed and Maaidh Mohamed of the Maldives secured the bronze medal.
In the youth category final, the Indian pair of Hrudya Shri Kondur and Anshul Batra faced a tougher test from the Indonesian pair of Dominique Rachmawati Karini and Anang Febrian, but eventually won the gold with a combined score of 498.4. The Indonesian pair won silver, while Zhibek Bektashova and Abdurazzak Muratov of the Kyrgyz Republic won bronze.
The precision stage of the Women’s 25m Pistol also concluded on Sunday, with Esha Singh sitting on top with 295, followed by Manu Bhaker with 291. The third Indian in the fray, Rhythm Sangwan, is currently in 13th place with a score of 285. The rapid-fire stage and the finals will be held tomorrow.
Other Results
25m Standard Pistol Men
Gold – Gurpreet Singh (India) – 575-16x
Silver – Harsh Gupta (India) – 571-14x
Bronze – Amanpreet Singh (India) – 569-11x
25m Standard Pistol Men Team
Gold – India
Silver – Vietnam
Bronze – Kazakhstan
25m Standard Pistol Junior Men
Gold – Suraj Sharma (India) – 576-13x
Silver – Mukesh Nelavalli – 559-8x
Bronze – Tanishq Muralidhar Naidu (India) – 557-10x
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