The 9.8 scourge returns to haunt Elavenil Valarivan as she settles for bronze at Munich shooting World Cup

Indian Express

2 days ago

Last year at the Paris Olympics, Elavenil Valarivan needed 30.9 points off her last three shots in the women's 10m air rifle qualification to make it to the eight-shooter final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. The Ahmedabad shooter would hit a 9.8 off her penultimate shot followed by a 10.3 to finish tenth, and miss qualification. Only 8 qualify.
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old would again hit a 9.8 at the ISSF Munich World Cup in a field comprising seven Olympians including Paris champion Ban Hyojin of Korea and world champion Han Jiayu of China.
The 9.8 would come crucially on the 21st – or what ended up as her penultimate shot in the final, and drop her down to third spot. But though the gold was lost, this time it was followed by a 10.6. However she needed 10.8 for shoot-off so she had to settle for bronze. But it secured her fifth World Cup medal and first since 2023 at the toughest of World Cups.
The Indian mulled over the two 9.8s. 'I have always seen Paris Olympics as a learning. So I saw that 9.8 as a way to ponder upon what went wrong for me and to improve on that. That's been my mindset from the day I started shooting. Yes, this 9.8 too came at a crucial moment as anybody could have won the gold medal and this too, I will take a lot of learnings from. But I am glad to win my first World Cup medal at this range amid the toughest competition I have competed in,' shared Valarivan while speaking with The Indian Express.
For a youngster, who first burst on the world shooting scene with a title in the world cup final at Putian, China in 2019, Valarivan had cemented her place in the Indian team for the next few years. Prior to making the Indian team for Tokyo Olympics, Valarivan had won three junior world cup titles apart from the world cup final gold and another world cup gold. The then 20-year-old would finish 16th at Paris and miss on medal matches in the mixed team formats.
Between Tokyo and Paris, the Indian would have only one World Cup gold, before she topped the Olympic trials to make the cut for Paris. Compatriot Ramita Jindal made it to the individual final and eventually finished seventh, Valarivan would miss her second straight final.
The youngster would have a talk with her parents Dr R Valarivan and Dr K Saroja. 'We have always told Elavenil that whether you win the medal or not, it's the love for shooting which has made you come that far. And that was the same we told her post Paris,' says mother Dr K Saroja.
The youngster would book her tickets to Hyderabad, a place where her elder brother V Eraivan, a Major with the Indian Army, is posted.
Eraivan, who is getting married later this month, would help her take her mind off the sport. 'Post Tokyo, she had come to Ladakh, where I was posted and spent some weeks with me. And after Paris, she came to Hyderabad. She has always spent time concentrating on shooting but then there are times when one needs to take time off. We went to a lot of cafes to try various food here in Hyderabad and watch long-pending Tamil movies which we had missed in the Olympic cycle,' says Major V Eraivan.
The 25-year-old would also return to training with her coach Neha Chavan and sharpen basics including time management in qualification as well as finals. On Tuesday, Chinese Wang Zifei shot a new qualification world record score of 637.9 followed by the Indian with a score of 635.9.
While the likes of Paris Olympics champion Ban Hyojin of Korea and world champion Han Jiayu of China would also make it to the final, 30 shooters would shoot a qualification score in excess of 630. 'Elavenil always has the motivation to come to the shooting range. So, we did not have to struggle on that front post Paris. She understood we needed to fine tune some things including the changes in technique as well as the pace of the shots and we were able to do that. And it showed in her qualification as well as final today,' says Chavan.
In comparison to Tuesday where the top 8 finished above 633.6, the two world cups this year have seen cut-offs for the final being 631.6 and 630.7. Paris was at 631.3 with only 11 shooters in excess of 630 including Valarivan's 630.7 while missing the final. 'It was a very high-quality qualification. Munich has always seen very high scores and it's important that one does not miss out. We had more than 160 shooters in qualification and Elavenil did make sure that she adjusted well and shot with confidence here,' says Indian rifle team foreign coach Thomas Farnik.
In the final, Valarivan would end the first series at the second spot with 52.9 points and 0.3 behind Kwon. The Indian would drop to tied-third place after the second series but would never drop outside the top two spots in the elimination rounds before the bronze medal was to be decided.
The 9.8 off her 21st shot meant that the Indian was 0.3 behind Wang and 0.4 behind Kwon. But a 10.6 by her off her 22nd shot while the Chinese shot a ridiculous 10.9 and the Korean held on with 10.3, saw the Indian eliminated.
'Elavenil had tried some things at the Argentina World Cup but then they did not work. So she worked on her old setting and it worked for her here in Munich. The lighting here is perfect and everybody enjoys shooting here. That makes the task even tougher and this bronze will add to her confidence,' says national coach Deepali Deshpande.
Farnik too believes that there are some areas the 25-year-old needs to improve. 'I told her that she is a mature shooter now and she has taken that positively. And it showed in her final scores where she never dropped out of top two in elimination. The 21st shot, the shot went off a bit earlier but then anybody could have won the gold here,' adds Farnik.
As for Valarivan, she would be spending time on finding some Batman memorabilia to celebrate the medal. 'I like watching Batman movies and collecting Batman memorabilia whenever I visit Munich or other European cities,' said the Indian.
Tomar is 6th in air pistol
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Varun Tomar finished sixth in the men's 10m air pistol final. Tomar, who had qualified for the eight-shooter final with a second highest score of 585, finished with a score of 160.3. Chinese Hu Kai won the gold with a score of 242.3.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More