The Indian mixed team duo of Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta have set new records in the 10m air rifle event and are winners of the Asian Shooting Championship title held in New Delhi. Elavenil and Arjun, with a combined score of 505 points, have not only defended their Asian title but have set a new World Record and Asian Championship record. The record was previously held by the German duo of Hanna Buehlmeyer and Maximilian Ulbrich with 502.7 scored at the ISSF Grand Prix in Slovenia in January 2026.
The Indian pair finished first, followed by the Republic of Korea’s Kim Woorim and Kwon Eunji (501 points), who took home the silver medal, while Japan’s Naoya Okada and Misaki Nobata (437.9 points) secured the bronze. Meanwhile, another Indian pair, Rudrankksh Patil and Meghana Sajjanar, were knocked out of their campaign after finishing third in the qualifiers with a score of 629.
The Indian pair led from the start and managed a comfortable 2.4 points lead ahead of the Japanese pair with 211 points at the end of the second series. Thereafter there was no change on the top with India scoring 315.8 points (after round 3), 358.4 points (after round 4) and 400.2 (after round 5).
On the other hand, in the Asian Junior event, India’s Shambhavi Shravan Kshirsagar and Himanshu bagged the gold medal with a record of 502.4, while Kazakhstan and the Maldives ended with silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Reflecting on their final performance, both Arjun and Elavenil shared their views after the victory.
“I have been working on a few aspects for the final round where I was lacking. I am glad I could execute that and consecutively deliver. I want to build on this performance and keep improving,” Arjun said.
“I am happy my learnings are working. I want to keep learning. Arjun and I were both compensating each other. It was a good team effort,” Elavenil said.
At the Asian Shooting Championship, Meghana Sajjanar created history after she won a bronze medal in the individual event while eight months pregnant. The victory was her first in the Asian Championships in the women’s 10m air rifle event. The 32-year-old then paired up with Rudrankksh Patil to win the 10m Air Pistol mixed team gold. In the qualification round, the Indian duo finished with the third-highest score of 629.
(Inputs sourced from The Bridge)
