(Shooting news) Olympic 2021 Live Update: Indian shooters Aprurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan endured a difficult start in their Tokyo Olympics campaign after failing to qualify for the finals of women’s 10m air rifle.
Despite being world number 1, Elavenil finished 16th in the qualifications after shooting 626.5 over six series of 10 shots each in her debut Olympics while the more experienced Apurvi finished 36th after shooting 621.9 at the Asaka range.
Both the shooters starting fairly well, Apruvi could not keep her momentum in the second series with two scores of 9.5 and 9.9 while 21 year old Elavenil, despite being a World Cup final gold medallist could not maintain her form in the fifth and sixth series.
Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway topped the qualification chart with an impressive 632.9, narrowly missing out on the world record with a margin of 1.1. Heemon Park of South Korea finished second with a score of 631.7 while Mary Carolyn Tucker from the United States finished third with a score of 631.4.
Russia’s Anastasiia Galashina finished at the eighth and final spot with a score of 628.6 while Elavenil missed the mark by 2 points. With a total of 50 shooters, the Tokyo Olympics witnessed 60 shots fired in qualification. Usually, a score above 630 (out of 654) is enough to progress into the 8-player final.
Also read: After struggles, sacrifices and success, Indian shooters eye Olympic glory
