Manu Bhaker, Elavenil Valarivan win gold at shooting World Cup

The Indian shooting contingent had a memorable day at the ISSF World Cup Final on Thursday as Manu Bhaker and Elavenil Valarivan bagged gold medals in Putian, China.

Manu Bhaker, the 17-year-old shooting sensation clinched India’s first gold medal in the women's 10 m Air Pistol at this year's tournament. Meanwhile, another young sensation Elavenil Valarivan secured the top honours in Women’s 10m Air Rifle event. 

Manu Bhaker scripted history scoring 244.7, breaking the junior world record on course to her victory. She becomes only the second Indian woman after Heena Sidhu in 2013 to win an individual gold medal in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event at the World Cup. This the second time that she has won individual gold in the 10m air pistol event. She has previously won the same accolade at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico in 2018.

Earlier she failed to qualify for the finals of the 25m air pistol event. However, she overcame Serbia's Zorana Arunovic and Quian Wang of China to win the gold in 10m event. 

This medal is her third ISSF World Cup gold medal. In February 2019, she won gold along with Saurabh Choudhary in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at ISSF World Cup in Delhi. Manu has already qualified to represent India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

Elavenil's second gold of the season

Meanwhile, Elavenil Valarivan secured her second gold medal at the ISSF World Cup this year. The 20-year-old bagged the first place in the 10m air rifle event in the prestigious season-ending tournament. Elavenil shot a score of 250.8 to win the gold medal. 

Elavenil, the protege of Gagan Narang, Olympic bronze medallist in the same event - won the gold by just a sliver’s difference. Taiwan’s Lin Ying-Shin scored a 250.7, just 0.1 less than Elavenil to secure a second place finish.

Elavenil qualified second for the finals behind Taiwan’s YIng-Shin. However, it was the final penultimate shot between the two in the finals that kept the audience in the hanging. Elavenil had surged past Ying-Shin in the beginning, but shot 9.4 with the latter in reaching distance. But, Ying-Shin’s final shots of above 10 were not close enough to beat Elavenil. 

Elavenil is quickly establishing herself as a wildcard entry for the Tokyo Olympics. The decision is now left onto the National Rifle Association of India. 

The Indian contingent had a triple gold day at the World Cup and stand second in the overall medal tally at the final shooting event of the year.

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)

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