Elavenil Valarivan Wins Two Silvers at Asian Games 2026

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Monday, 21 September 2026

Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan opened India’s medal account at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya with two silver medals in the women’s 10m air rifle events on Sunday, September 20, 2026. She first joined Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa K Vinod to win team silver before securing an individual silver later the same day.

Key Highlights:

• Elavenil Valarivan wins two silver medals in 10m air rifle
• India opens its Asian Games 2026 medal account with a team silver
• Elavenil claims her first individual Asian Games medal

In the women’s 10m air rifle team event, the Indian trio produced a combined score of 1898.0 to finish second. China won gold with 1904.2, setting a world record, while hosts Japan took bronze with 1897.1. Sonam was India’s highest scorer with 634.1, followed by Elavenil with 633.5 and Vidarsa with 630.4.

The team silver marked India’s first medal of the 2026 Asian Games. It also continued India’s medal run in the women’s 10m air rifle team event after the country won silver in the same discipline at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Elavenil then returned to the range for the individual final, where she narrowly missed the gold medal. She finished with 252.4 points, while Japan’s Hinata Taichi claimed gold with 253.0, setting an Asian Games record. Olympic champion Ban Hyo-jin of the Republic of Korea took bronze with 230.4.

The final went down to the last two shots. Elavenil had led for much of the elimination phase and held a 0.3-point advantage after 20 shots. Hinata subsequently moved ahead and entered the final two attempts with a 232.2-231.9 lead. Elavenil recorded 10.4 and 10.1 with her final shots, while Hinata responded with 10.6 and 10.2 to win by 0.6 points.

The individual silver is particularly significant for Elavenil, as it is her first individual Asian Games medal. She had previously competed at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022 without reaching the podium in the individual event. The two-time Olympian entered the Aichi-Nagoya Games after a strong run of performances in continental and international competitions.

Elavenil’s latest achievement adds to an established international career. She won the Asian Championships in Shymkent in 2025 with a reported Asian record of 253.6 and successfully defended her continental title at the 2026 Asian Championships in New Delhi. She also won an ISSF World Cup gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2023.

Her double-silver performance has given India an early boost in shooting at the Asian Games 2026, while also highlighting the contributions of Sonam and Vidarsa to the opening medal. For Elavenil, the two podium finishes mark a significant Asian Games milestone after years of competing at the continental level.