India's Elavenil Valarivan claims gold at ISSF World Cup 2023 

The ISSF World Cup 2023 is going on in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the big event, Elavenil Valarivan of India claimed a gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle competition.

The 24-year-old star Indian shooter was very consistent in the final and scored 252.2 to secure the top spot on the podium. The silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle event went to Oceanne Muller of France. The Chinese shooter, Zhang Jiale, took home the bronze.

It is worth mentioning that Elavenil also grabbed a gold medal at the 2019 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. She represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. In addition, she has now won another accolade for India by winning the 10m air rifle gold at the ISSF World Cup 2023.

India's campaign at ISSF World Cup 2023

At the ongoing ISSF World Cup 2023 in Rio, India's first medal (gold) came in the women's 10m air rifle. In other events (individual and team) so far, the Indian shooters have not been able to perform well.

In the men's 10m air rifle competition, Sandeep Singh could only manage to score 628.2 in the qualifying round, finishing in 14th place. Meanwhile, in the 10m air rifle mixed team event, Elavenil and Sandeep finished fifth. The overall score of the Indian duo was 629.1

In the men's 10m air pistol competition, Sagar Dangi finished in sixth place (with a score of 157.4). In this event, Saurabh Chaudhary also couldn't live up to the expectations and finished 30th in the qualification.

It is noteworthy that Saurabh Chaudhary clinched gold at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta. The 21-year-old also won gold at the 2022 World Cup in Cairo. However, currently he is not in a good form. As a result, he could not make it to India's shooting squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2023. Nonetheless, he has immense potential to regain his form and make a comeback.