Arjun-Elavenil pair bags 10m air rifle mixed team gold, Shambhavi and Pranav take junior gold

Shymkent (Kazakhstan), Aug 23 (PTI) Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan led the charge as India excelled in both senior and junior level to claim gold medals in the 10m air rifle mixed team events at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship here on Saturday.

The senior Indian pair outclassed China's Dingke Lu and Xinlu Peng 17-11 to finish on top of the podium.

The pair of Shambhavi Shravan and Naraen Pranav grabbed the gold medal in 10m air rifle mixed team junior event. They beat China 16-12 after a dominant show in the latter part of the series.

After these two gold medals, India's medal tally reads an impressive 22.

Elavenil (316.3) and Babuta (317.7) shot 634.0 in qualification to top the 27-team field in the Olympic event, while India’s second pair of Mehuli Ghosh (317.7) and Rudrankksh Patil (314.9) also shot well for a tally of 632.6, giving them second position on the leaderboard.

However, given the rules of the tournament, Mehuli and Rudrankksh had to miss out on a shot at a medal as Ela and Arjun setup a gold medal clash with the young Chinese pair of Peng Xinlu and Lu Dingke, who were third with 632.3.

The Chinese pair was leading in the initial round but the Indians, who faltered early with shots of 9.5 and 10.1, made a stirring comeback in the later rounds to claim the gold.

The effort meant that both Tamil Nadu's Elavenil and the 26-year-old Babuta from Punjab have now won two gold medals each at the prestigious tournament.

Elavenil had finished on top of the table in the 10m air rifle women's competition, while Babuta had combined with Rudrankksh Patil and Kiran Jadhav to clinch the team gold in men's 10m air rifle event.

In the junior event, Shambhavi and Pranav finished third behind the two Chinese teams in the qualification but since only one team from a nation can compete, the Chinese 2 team, comprising Tang Huiqi and Han Yinan, qualified for the final after topping the qualification.

The Indian team totalled 629.5 to finish behind China 2 (632.3) and China 1 (630).

Shambhavi had a series of 105.4, 105.2 and 104.4 while Pranav began slow with 103.7, but improved in the next two series, scoring 105.7 and 105.1.

Another Indian team in the fray, comprising Isha Taksale and Himanshu, finished fourth with a score of 628.6 in the qualification.

It is second yellow metal for Shambhavi, who had won the women's junior 10m air rifle event with Hrudya Shri Kondur and Isha Anil with a junior world record score of 1896.2 on Friday. PTI UNG AT AT ATK