Shymkent [Kazakhstan], August 23 : Indian shooters Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta clinched a gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Shooting Championship 2025, which was played in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.
Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta, both Olympians, dominated the People's Republic of China's Peng Xinlu and Lu Dingke in the final and won the contest 17-11 to land the top podium spot. Earlier, Valarivan and Babuta had shot 634.0 to top the qualifiers, as per Olympics.com.
Their Indian compatriots, Mehuli Ghosh and Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, finished second in the qualifiers with 632.6 but didn't make the gold medal match as only one team from a country can qualify for a medal match.
Consequently, Valarivan and Babuta faced the third-placed Chinese team in the gold medal match.
Japan's Hinata Taichi-Naoki Hanakawa and the Republic of Korea's Eunji Kwon-Hajun Park won the two bronze medals on offer.
So far, India has won 11 medals - four gold, one silver and six bronze - in senior events at the 2025 Asian Shooting Championships. Only China have won more.
Previously, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Elavenil Valarivan won the men's skeet and women's 10m air rifle titles, respectively. The men's 10m air rifle shooting team also bagged a gold, as per Olympics.com.
Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker has won bronze medals in both the women's 10m air pistol individual and team events. She is also slated to compete in the 25m variant.
The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition comprise 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters are also competing in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.
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