Elavenil Valarivan said beating reigning Olympic and world champion Ban Hyojin of South Korea for an individual silver at the Asian Games has helped her overcome the disappointment of narrowly missing out on gold after leading until the final stages of the women's 10m air rifle competition.

Despite the medals, the Indian shooting contingent has continued to face significant difficulties in Japan due to poor travel arrangements by the organisers.

Elavenil Valarivan is already looking to put her double-silver success behind her and shift focus to the next challenge, with the Indian shooter set to compete in the mixed team 10m air rifle event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan opened India's medal account on Day 1 of the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, clinching two silver medals.

Family members of Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan expressed their happiness after she clinched silver medals in the women's 10m air rifle team and individual events at the Asian Games 2026.

The 2025 world championship bronze medallist shot 252.4 points in the final to finish behind Japan's Hinata Taichi, who won gold with an Asian Games record 253.0. South Korea's Hyojin Ban took bronze with 230.4.

Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod combined for a total of 1898.0 points to finish second behind China, who topped the standings with a world-record score of 1904.2.

India's Sonam Uttam Maskar and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan produced strong performances to reach the women's 10m air rifle final but fell short of the medals, finishing fifth and sixth respectively at the ISSF World Cup.

Olympian Elavenil Valarivan held her nerve to fend off a strong challenge from Japan's Misaki Nobata and clinch the women's 10m air rifle gold, while Meghana Sajjanar also climbed the podium with a bronze medal at the Asian Championship on Saturday.

This was Elavenil Valarivan's first individual podium finish in the ongoing event having won a silver and bronze in the team events previously.