India’s Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan bagged the gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
The Indian pair won gold after they outclassed China’s Dingke Lu and Xinlu Peng 17-11. Despite an early lead by the Chinese, the Indians made a stunning comeback in the later rounds to secure the top spot on the podium.
It was Elavenil’s second gold medal in the event. She became a continental champion for the first time after winning the women’s 10m air rifle gold medal at the Asian Shooting Championship 2025 on Friday.
In the final, Elavenil Valarivan shot 253.6 to top the podium ahead of the People’s Republic of China’s Peng Xinlu (253.0) and the Republic of Korea’s Kwon Eunji (231.2).
Valarivan, who represented India at Tokyo 2020 and the Paris 2024 Olympics, also bagged the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air rifle team event at Shymkent, along with Mehuli Ghosh and Ananya Naidu. The Indian trio accumulated a score of 1891.0.
Earlier, the Indian trio of Babuta, Rudrankksh Patil, and Kiran Jadhav had clinched the team gold in the men’s 10m Air Rifle event.
Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker has won bronze medals in both the women’s 10m air pistol individual and team events. She is also slated to compete in the 25m variant.
The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition comprises 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters are also competing in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.
