Shooters Nancy, Elavenil win air rifle gold, silver at Asia Olympic qualifiers

Budding shooter Nancy and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan came up with a grand performance in women’s 10m air rifle, clinching gold and silver respectively at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers here on Wednesday.

Teenager Nancy, the junior world team champion, shot a superb 252.8 in the final field of eight to clinch the top spot. Compatriot Elavenil was unlucky to miss the gold by a fraction of a point, aggregating 252.7.

India narrowly missed a clean sweep in the women’s 10m air rifle final after Mehuli Ghosh finished fourth with 210 points behind China’s Shen Yufan.

India’s world champion marksman Rudrankksh Patil settled for a bronze medal in men’s 10m air rifle shooting 228.7 in the final, which was won by Ma Sihan of China (251.4), while Korea’s Daehan Choe bagged silver.

Another Indian to make the final, Arjun Babuta, finished sixth.

Rudrankksh had qualified for the eight-shooter final placed third with a score of 630.4, while Babuta (629.6) was fourth going into the medal round.

Nancy was consistent throughout the final, not having a single below-par score, while Elavenil was unlucky to score a 9.7 in her 10th shot in the final, which finally decided her fate.

Earlier, the 24-year-old Elavenil topped the qualification round with a score of 633.8, while Nancy aggregated 632.4 and Mehuli had 631.0.