By Adarsh Chauhan
New Delhi [India], September 26 : Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan said she felt “very privileged to represent our country” after returning home with two silver medals from the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Notably, Elavenil Valarivan won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event alongside Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod before clinching another silver in the individual women’s 10m air rifle event on the same day.
Elavenil first teamed up with Maskar and Vinod in the women’s 10m air rifle team event on September 20, where the trio secured silver with a qualification aggregate score of 1898.0 points. She later added an individual silver in the 10m air rifle event on the same day. Elavenil remained in contention for gold for much of the individual final, but Japan’s Hinata Taichi held her nerve in the closing stages to claim the top spot.
India’s medal-winning shooting contingent from the Asian Games received a warm welcome at the New Delhi airport on Friday night. Elavenil, who returned home with two silver medals, said she felt grateful for the support and was privileged to represent India and win medals for the country.
“It's a very grateful feeling; so many people are cheering and supporting us. We are very privileged to represent our country and win medals. The least I could do for my country and make the country proud,” she told ANI.
So far, India has won 23 medals at the Asian Games, comprising two gold, nine silver and 12 bronze medals, with 10 of those medals coming from shooting. Elavenil said shooting has been one of India’s strongest events and expressed happiness over continuing the momentum with medal-winning performances.
“I think shooting has been one of the strongest games, and we're glad we could keep up the momentum and win medals for our country,” she said.
India’s latest shooting medal at the Asian Games 2026 came on Friday, when Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet ended the pistol shooting medal drought with a dominant display in the mixed team 10m air pistol event. The Indian duo clinched gold after scoring 484.6 points in the final, finishing 6.6 points ahead of South Korea, who won silver with 478.0 points. The victory marked India’s second gold medal at the Games. Suruchi and Kamaljeet also broke the Asian record of 481.3 points, previously set by Uzbekistan at the Asian Shooting Championships in New Delhi earlier this year.