Valarivan bags record, double at KSS shooting

Mehuli Ghosh settled for silver while Manini Kaushik took bronze

Gun for Glory trainee and ISSF Junior World Cup gold medallist Elavenil Valarivan from Gujrat bettered Zhao Ruozhu’s world record of 252.4 and clinched first place in the both the 10m air rifle senior and junior categories at the Karni Singh ranges here on Tuesday.

While she shot 253 and bettered the Chinese marksman’s record, the feat will not count in the record books as the ISSF, world governing body for the sport, only considers tournaments held at a world or continental level.

Teen prodigy Mehuli Ghosh could only finish with 251.7 and settled for silver while another shooter from the GFG stable, Manini Kaushik from Rajasthan, took bronze with 230.9 in the senior category.

Elavenil shone in the junior category as well with a score of 252.3 for her second gold. Bengal’s Mehuli continued her medal rush with the silver and another GFG shooter Shreya Agarwal from Madhya Pradesh took the bronze.

In the youth category, Yana Rathore of Madhya Pradesh bagged gold with 249.6 while Himachal Pradesh’s Zeena Khitta grabbed the second spot with 248.5.

Haryana’s Nischal Singh trailed with 225.1 but still managed to take third place.

The selection trial 5 was held simultaneously with the KSS Memorial shooting championship which saw Elavenil Valarivan top the charts with a qualification score of 632.2 while Mehuli Ghosh scored 629.7 and Manini Kaushik took the third spot with 629.1. These points will be considered while the Asian Games and World Championships selections take place.