India win first Asian Games medal, silver in women's 10m air rifle team event
Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Kochalumkal took team silver, then Elavenil added an individual silver hours later.
The Asian Games 2026 have begun in Aichi-Nagoya, and India opened its medal account on the shooting range. In the women's 10m air rifle team event, the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Kochalumkal won the silver medal. In a field of 16 teams, the Indian team finished second with a total of 1897 points, while China's women's team won gold in the same event.
China took gold with a world record score of 1904.2 points. Hosts Japan finished third with 1897.1 points, with only 0.1 points separating India and Japan. This is India's first medal at the Asian Games 2026, though a medal for India had already been assured after Suchika Tariyal reached the semifinals in MMA.
In the team event, the Indian trio's scores across six series were as follows. After the first series, the team's score was 316.9 points. In the second series, the team scored 316.8 points. In the third series, the Indian shooters put in a strong performance, scoring 317.9 points, taking the total to 951.6. In the fourth series, India added 316.2 points to take the total to 1267.8. In the fifth series, the team scored 314.8, but in the final series, with 315.4 points, the Indian team secured the silver medal with a total of 1897 points.
In the individual event too, Elavenil, Sonam and Vidarsa put up strong performances. Elavenil Valarivan and Sonam Maskar qualified for the final. Sonam finished third among 57 shooters with 634.1 points, while Elavenil finished seventh with 633.5 points. The third Indian shooter, Vidarsa, finished 12th with 630.4 points and was eliminated in the first round.
Finally, in the women's individual 10m air rifle event, Elavenil Valarivan also won a silver medal, while Sonam Maskar finished sixth. This meant Elavenil won two medals for India within a few hours. However, she missed the gold medal by just 0.06 seconds. This took India's medal tally up by two silvers. Elavenil's individual silver is India's second medal at the Asian Games 2026, after the trio of Elavenil, Sonam and Vidarsa won silver in the team event.
