India wins first medal at Asian Games; women shooters bag silver in 10m air rifle event

Asian Games have finally kicked off with their official opening ceremony held on September 19. Meanwhile, India, which had already begun its campaign on September 17 with Teqball, has secured its first medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday. It came when the women’s 10m air rifle team claimed silver at the multi-sport event. 

Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa K. Vinod combined for a total of 1898.0 points to finish second behind China, who set a world-record score of 1904.2. Hosts Japan took bronze with 1897.1 points.

India wins first medal at Asian Games; women shooters bag silver in 10m air rifle event

Sonam Maskar led the Indian effort with 634.1, followed by Elavenil Valarivan on 633.5 and debutant Vidarsa Vinod with 630.4. Both Elavenil and Sonam also qualified for the individual final later in the day.

The silver marks an encouraging start for India’s shooting contingent, which returned from the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou with a record 22 medals. The result gives the country an early boost as the multi-sport event continues in Japan.

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