Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan outshoot China in Asian Shooting Championship final
India’s impressive run at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship continued on Saturday as Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan clinched gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. The Indian pair overcame early nerves to defeat China’s Dingke Lu and Xinlu Peng 17-11 in the final, adding another top podium finish to the country’s tally.
The match began with tentative shooting from the Indian duo, with Elavenil and Babuta opening with scores of 9.5 and 10.1. Trailing in the early rounds, they rallied back with precision and composure, stringing together consistent high scores to turn the contest decisively in their favour.
For Elavenil Valarivan, the victory marked her second gold of the championship. On Friday, she won the women’s 10m air rifle individual event with a score of 253.6, edging past China’s Peng Xinlu (253.0) and Korea’s Kwon Eunji (231.2). It was a landmark moment for the 24-year-old Olympian, who competed at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, cementing her place among Asia’s finest rifle shooters.
India’s medal haul in Shymkent has showcased depth across both individual and team events. Earlier in the competition, the men’s 10m air rifle team of Babuta, Rudrankksh Patil and Kiran Jadhav claimed team gold, underlining the country’s strength in the discipline.
The women’s team of Elavenil, Mehuli Ghosh and Ananya Naidu added to the tally with a bronze in the team competition, narrowly missing silver. Mehuli also reached the women’s individual final, finishing just outside the podium in fourth place.
With this latest success, India sits comfortably at the top of the medal standings, having secured 21 gold, eight silver and ten bronze medals so far. China trails in second with nine gold and a total of 19 medals.
The championship, which brings together Asia’s best shooters, has become a stage for India to display its growing dominance in the sport, with athletes performing strongly under pressure in both qualification and final rounds.
For Elavenil and Babuta, Saturday’s gold was not just another medal, it was a statement of India’s rising consistency in shooting, especially in events where margins of error are razor-thin and composure is everything.
