SSF World Cup: 9.8 shot continues to haunt Valarivan as she settles for bronze in women's 10m air rifle

Munich [Germany], June 11 : Two-time Olympian Elavenil Valarivan kickstarted India's campaign at the ISSF World Cup 2025 in Munich, Germany, with a bronze medal in the women's 10m air rifle.

Once again, it was a 9.8 shot that came to haunt her after last year's Paris Olympics. During the qualification round, she shot 9.8 and missed the qualification mark by a whisker.

During the pulsating contest, where momentum shifted like a pendulum, Elavenil asserted control in the final. She led with a score of 210.8 points. However, her fortune turned around with a 9.8 on her penultimate shot, which cost her a top-two finish. She finished with a score of 231.2 points to settle for bronze on Tuesday.

People's Republic of China's Wang Zifei, who set a world record with a score of 254.8 at the Lima ISSF World Cup in April, continued her dominant run with a 0.1-point win over Republic of Korea's Kwon Eun-ji with a score of 252.7 to take away the gold medal.

Elavenil previously set a new national record in qualification after shooting 635.9 points to place second. Wang, though, went one better and smashed the world record with 637.9 points.

Ramita Jindal, competing for Ranking Points Only (RPO), finished 13th with 632.6 points, while Ananya Naidu scored 632.4 points to occupy the 15th spot.

In the men's 10m air pistol final, Varun Tomar finished sixth with a score of 160.3 points. China's Hu Kai (242.3) breezed past Kazakhstan's Valeriy Rakhimzhan (241.9) to secure his spot at the top of the podium. Germany's Christian Reitz (220.8) finished third for the bronze. Tomar qualified for the medal match with 585 points and finished second.

Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh competed in the RPO category in the 10m air pistol and finished ninth with a score of 583 points.

In the women's 25m pistol precision round, Esha Singh holds the fourth position with 294 points, while two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker is in 15th with 290 points. She would need a strong performance in the rapid-fire round on Wednesday to stay alive in the medal race. Meanwhile, Paris 2024 bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale will be in action on Wednesday in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions qualification round.

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