Elavenil Valarivan has won a lot of medals in her almost decade-long career -- at World Cups and World Championships, at Asian Shooting Championships across junior and seniors. She has been the world No 1 and still holds the Asian record in the women's 10m air rifle final. The one achievement the now 27-year-old didn't have, though, was a major multi-sport medal. Across two Olympics -- Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 -- and one Asian Games in 2018 as one of India's most promising teenage shooters in the then toughest discipline, she was yet to win that one solo medal. That is, until the 2026 Asian Games.
On Sunday, the first day of the Aichi-Nagoya Games, along came two silver medals in the span of a few hours. She got silver in women's 10m air rifle team event and followed with that elusive, talent-fulfilling individual medal - a silver in a final she refused to finish off the podium.
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Very few things can capture the Indian sporting spotlight like a multi-sport medal, and now Ela, as she is fondly called, can finally tick this box. The teen prodigy is now an Asian Games medallist, in what is a remarkable redemption arc given her career trajectory over the last 8 years.
ELAVENIL VALARIVAN TAKES HER SECOND MEDAL OF THESE ASIAN GAMES.
After the team silver, she takes home the individual silver as well, behind Japan's. Hinata Taichi. pic.twitter.com/vNPuGNrvy1
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) September 20, 2026
Just to give you an indication of how highly rated she was -- there was a time in 2018 when her junior world record of 631.4 was higher than the women's senior record. Backed by Gagan Narang's Gun for Glory academy and training closely with the Olympic medallist, Ela was seen as the future of the Indian legacy in women's 10m air rifle. But then came the rollercoaster senior career, starting with the 2018 Asiad.
Back then, she had broken into the squad as a teenager and surprise national champion (in the most competitive category of women's shooting in the country) but in Jakarta, she finished 14th and didn't make the final. A few years later, she was picked in India's Tokyo Olympics squad as the reigning world No 1, despite not winning a quota place. She finished 16th in what was a debacle of a shooting campaign. She then didn't make it to the Indian squad for the Asian Games in 2023 but returned to the top the next year when she won the strenuous national selection trials to make the cut for the Paris Olympics in 2024, where she narrowly missed final qualification.
Amidst all this athletic turmoil, Ela has kept up her lively personality. There are numerous tiny incidents through the years that show it, a striking one being how she showed up in stands to loudly cheer for Manu Bhaker at the Paris Olympics despite her own heartbreak.
Underneath it all, though, there remained the tough competitor who wanted to win and would do anything for it. As her long-time coach Neha Chavan had told this writer back in 2018 "Ela knows how to win, she knows what she has to do, even if it is on one leg. It is her nature of survival."
This instinct to win, however, was often hindered by an inability to manage her nerves at the crucial points. It almost happened again to her in Aichi-Nagoya again. In the qualification, she snuck in at the last spot with a total of 633.5 points. But in the final, she was the front runner, looking determined from the outset with scores in the higher 10s. She was leading the field of two Chinese, two Japanese, two South Korean and two Indian shooters - the toughest it can get at an Asiad. At one point, she had a lead as big as 1.2 point in the gold position.
But as the business end neared, her numbers started falling as the nerves showed. These closing troubles have so often in the past been the cause of Ela's downfall. At the Paris Olympics, she was very close to qualifying for the final... till one bad shot of 9.8 put her out of contention. This has happened to her in finals of ISSF World Cups as well, when a stray shot of 9.something affects her good efforts. But not today. Now a veteran of many finals and as many heartbreaks, Ela kept her calm. Even as her lead of 1.2 whittled down to 0.2. Even as she slipped to second as she started hitting lower 10s. She kept her scores in the 10s still, took deep breaths and by then she knew she had the medal.
The change now is internal, more than technical. She has always been a terrific shooter, perhaps one of the best Indians in air rifle - high praise. And now she is enjoying the process and not just thinking of competition. "Lately I've started to enjoy the sport. Initially, it was more about me making it to the team, winning the competition. Now it is more about enjoying it, enjoying just being the part getting to be a part of the team and representing the country. So, I think that has been one of the major shifts in my approach towards competition or towards a training day."
"Looking back, 2018 was my first Asian Games. I have evolved as a person, I have learned so much. I have played two Olympics post that and I've got a lot of experience from a lot of World Cups, World Championships, Asian championships. I'm still learning, and I'm just glad that I'm getting this opportunity to learn every single day," she told media after her medal.
It may not be gold, but it was a very tangible multi-sport medal. Elavenil Valarivan is now a double Asian Games silver medalist.