ISSF World Cup Final: India began their shooting campaign at the Asian Games with a silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle event on Sunday at Aichi Pref. General Shooting Gallery.
Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Kochalumkal accumulated 1897 points to win the silver for India, while Elavenil and Sonam also moved to the individual final.
Shooting has always been a successful sport for India at the Asiad, with the contingent bagging 22 medals at the Hangzhou Games 2023, the most for them in a sport.
Indian women's 10m air rifle coach Pooja Ghatkar opened up about how the rifle contingent was given simulation training ahead of the 2026 Games to replicate the pressure of a shooting final, and it began to pay off in Aichi-Nagoya.
She heaped praise on the women's team before detailing the simulation training for the men's and women's rifle teams. "Satisfied, not happy much because as the training was going on, we were expecting a very good performance. They performed well, but we expected more. But happy with the silver, we have Elavenil and Sonam in the individual finals; hope for more medals," she said.
"So, basically we had two camps in Bhopal. So, that was very well planned by NRAF. And we had almost created an atmosphere like finals training. We had an audience, a live audience. We had students shouting and screaming during the finals.
"So, we had music playing around and all. So, they had a good practice for finals. And we are hoping that this will help them here to perform in the finals, both air rifle men and air rifle women," she added.
"So, basically we had two camps in Bhopal. So, that was very well planned by NRAF. And we had almost created an atmosphere like finals training. We had an audience, a live audience. We had students shouting and screaming during the finals.
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Pooja opened up on Sonam and backed her to perform well. "So, Elavenil, as everyone knows, she is very experienced; she is an Olympian. Sonam has been shooting since juniors. So, she has shot many internationals in juniors. And right now she is performing very well. She is consistent with 633, 634. Plus, she has been in two finals: the Spain World Cup, Hongzhou World Cup," she said.