In an elite group of eight final shooters, all of whom decided to shoot for the lights in Cairo on the first day of the World Shooting Championships, India’s Elavinil Valarivan first chased, then advanced, then finally fell behind to claim a bronze medal in a steel display, typical of the shooter born in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. Elavenil, who has consistently shown the temperament to be part of the national 10m air rifle team, especially in a domestic setup packed with some of the best teams in the world, has been missing out on that big medal so far. However, if we look at the 2025 season as a whole, this would be an almost certain medal – even in a sport like shooting.
Elavenil has been India’s top rifle shooter in 2025. She won a bronze medal at the World Cup in Munich – where some of the best shooters at her event were present, and they were scoring hard-to-believe goals there too. In addition, she also won the Asian Championship gold. On Saturday, a bronze medal at the world championships was just an extension of those performances.
“It was like who blinked first,” said Indian rifle coach Deepali Deshpande, who was watching impatiently from the coach’s bench in Cairo. “There was no room for a bad shot. All you had to do was hold your ground firmly.” “This is her best finals performance this year. With every match, she gets better.”
Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan won the bronze medal with a score of 232.0 in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the IBF World Championships in Cairo, Egypt. pic.twitter.com/hIC9p8Ra8r
– Nitin Sharma (@Nitinsharma631) November 8, 2025
Part of Elavenil’s well-rounded and fulfilling year has come from reclaiming her joy in sports. At the Paris Olympics, one of her memorable moments was when Arjun Babauta narrowly missed out on a bronze medal, and she was shown on cameras comforting him while he was distraught. The day before, Elavenil had also suffered a setback of her own, failing to reach the eight-woman final by a few decimal points.
For Elavenil to start winning big medals, she needed to get things back to how they were when she was young, said her long-time coach Neha Chavan of Gun for Glory. “In the junior circuit, you enjoy the sport. Once you reach the senior level and get to the top three, it becomes about winning. In that process, in that journey, you miss out on enjoying the sport. I feel she has found that purpose again,” Neha said. Indian Express.
Intense final
With six shots to go, Elavenil was in the lead – the culmination of 18 shots in which she never dipped below 10.4 – a tremendous accomplishment in itself. Earlier in the qualifying round, the 26-year-old had placed fifth with a score of 633.4 and each of her six series was 105 or higher, showing just how much she was in the zone all day in Cairo.
But it was the 19th shot, and when she went ahead, it was her first bad shot of the competition, a 10.0. It immediately bounced back at a rate of 10.6. But on her final two shots of the competition, she scored 10.4 and 9.9 to finish third with 232 points.
“What happens is when you are in the top three, there is always one point where you know you have already won one medal. I will not say that is wrong. But when you have to win, you need those good shots. You know, it is also about that 1% luck,” Chavan said.
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The disappointment on Elavenel’s face was clear as she returned to her chair. From her position, it looked like lost gold. But Pan Hyojin of South Korea, who was the eventual winner with a score of 255, was shooting at another level in the final and did not score lower than 10.6 on any of her last six shots. China’s Wang Zhifei won the silver medal with a score of 254.
The other Indians in the fray, Meghana Sajjanar and Shreya Agrawal finished 17th and 33rd respectively in the qualifying round.
(tags for translation)Elavenil Valarivan
