Elavenil Valarivan: Two children of the same family, two different paths in the service of the country. Elavenil Valarivan’s grandfather is serving the country as a Captain in the Indian Army. And Elavenil is shining the face of India on the international stage with a rifle. The Indian shooter again grabbed the attention by winning silver in the women’s 10m air rifle individual event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games (Asian Games 2026) on Sunday.
Elavenil’s silver in a tight fight
Elavenil was in the long run for gold in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery. In the end, he had to be satisfied with the silver after falling back to Hinata Taichi of Japan. Hinata set an Asian Games record with 253.0 points to win gold. Earlier on the same day, Elavenil played an important role in winning silver in the team event as well.
Special relationship with grandfather
Elavenil’s grandfather served as a captain in the Indian Army. For the service of the country he chose the army uniform, and Elavenil’s weapon was the rifle. His relationship with his grandfather is very close. Elavenil dedicated the medal to Dada in Rio de Janeiro after winning the first senior ISSF World Cup gold of his career. This family bond is one of the biggest inspirations in his shooting life.
He got a rifle at the age of 13
Elavenil picked up his first rifle in 2012 at the age of 13. He got into shooting through a sports initiative by the Gujarat government. Within a short time his talent was noticed by talent scouts. Then he got an opportunity in ‘Project Leap’ of Gagan Narang’s Academy, a bronze winner in the Olympics. At the junior level, he quickly rose to the senior stage by setting one record after another.
A pair of silvers at the Asian Games
Elavenil won a pair of silvers on the first day of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Apart from winning silver in individual 10m air rifle, he also won silver in team event with Sonam Uttam Maskar and Bidarsa Vinod. This medal in the individual event helped her set a new precedent as the first Indian woman shooter to win an individual silver in this category at the Asian Games.
A long list of successes on the world stage as well
Elavenil proved his dominance in Asia by winning back-to-back individual titles at the Asian Shooting Championships. He also retained his title at the Asian Shooting Championship in Delhi in 2026. In the same year Arjun also set a world record score of 505 points in the mixed team event with Babuta. He also holds bronze in the team and individual categories at the ISSF World Championships in the 2022 and 2025 cycles. Elavenil also received the Arjuna Award from the Government of India in 2022.
From the Olympics to the Asian Games, Elavenil is moving forward
Elavenil was also once ranked world number one in the women’s 10m air rifle. He represented India in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics. He had a personal best score of 635.9 in the qualification round and a personal best score of 253.6 in the final. A pair of silvers on the Asian Games stage is another remarkable chapter in his career. As Elavenil continues to achieve success for the country with a rifle, he also shares the pride of working for the country with his grandfather who is in the army.