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Journalism of Courage
In an elite set of final eight shooters, who all decided to shoot lights out in Cairo on the first day of the shooting World Championships, India’s Elavenil Valarivan first chased, then led, and finally tapered off for a bronze medal in a steely showing, typical of the shooter born in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. Elavenil, who has consistently shown the temperament to be a part of the national 10m Air rifle team, especially in a domestic setup teeming with some of the best in the world, was missing that one big medal until now. However, if her 2025 season were viewed as a whole, this was a medal that was a near certainty – even in a sport such as shooting.
Elavenil has been India’s best rifle shooter in 2025. She won a bronze medal at the Munich World Cup – where some of the best shooters in her event were present, and were shooting hard-to-believe scores there as well. And then to add to that, she picked up an Asian Championship gold too. On Saturday, the World Championship bronze was just an extension of those performances.
“It was just like, who blinks first. There was no scope for bad shooting. You just have to hold your ground tight,” said India rifle coach Deepali Deshpande, who was anxiously watching from the coach’s seat at Cairo. “This is the best finals performance she has had this year. With every match, she’s getting better.”
Part of Elavenil’s exhaustive, yet fulfilling year has come from regaining her joy of the sport. At the Paris Olympics, one of the moments that defined her was when Arjun Babuta narrowly missed out on a bronze medal and she was shown on cameras comforting him as he was distraught. A day earlier, Elavenil too had gone through her own setback, missing out on reaching the eight-woman final by a few decimal points.
Her long-time coach Neha Chavan from Gun for Glory, said that in order for Elavenil to start winning the big medals, she needed to take things back to when she was a junior. “In the junior circuit, you enjoy the sport. Once you make it to the seniors and are in the top 3, it becomes about winning. And in that process, in that journey you miss out on enjoying the sport. I feel that she has found that purpose again,” Neha told The Indian Express.
With six shots left, Elavenil was in the lead – a culmination of 18 pristine shots where she never went below 10.4 – a massive feat in itself. Earlier in the qualification round, the 26-year-old had finished fifth with a score of 633.4 and each of her six series was 105 or above, showing just how much in the zone she had been in Cairo all day.
But it was the 19th shot, and when leading, that her first bad attempt of the competition, a 10.0, came about. She immediately bounced back with a 10.6. But then in her final two shots of the competition put up a 10.4 and a 9.9 to finish third on 232 points.
“What happens is when you’re in the Top 3, there is always one point where you know you have already won one medal. I wouldn’t say it’s a mistake. But when you have to win, you need those good shots. And it’s also a matter of, you know, that 1% of that luck,” said Chavan.
The disappointment in Elavenil’s face was evident as she walked back to her chair. From her position, it looked like a gold lost. But South Korea’s Ban Hyojin, who was the eventual winner with a score of 255, had been shooting on another level in the final and didn’t hit under 10.6 in any of her final six shots. China’s Wang Zifei picked up the silver with a 254.
The other Indians in the fray, Meghana Sajjanar and Shreya Agrawal finished 17th and 33rd respectively in the qualification round.
