Tokyo Olympics: Elavenil Valarivan In Indian Shooting Team, Chinki Yadav Dropped

Elavenil Valarivan Tokyo Olympics: Elavenil Valarivan, women’s 10m air rifle World No.1, found a place on India’s shooting team for the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled later this year. The announcement was made on Sunday, April 5.

21-year-old Valarivan, who did not have an Olympic quota, will now be a part of a 15-member Indian shooting contingent that will represent the country at the upcoming Olympics. While Valarivan and pistol shooter Manu Bhaker have been chosen to lead India’s charge in shooting at the upcoming Olympics, previously quota holder Chinki Yadav, who had claimed a gold at the Delhi World Cup last month, has been dropped from the team, the national selection committee announced on Sunday.

Bhaker will be participating in both the women's 25m pistol alongside Rahi Sarnobat and in her 10m air pistol event with Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

Here is the 15 member 🇮🇳 Shooting Squad for #Tokyo2020.

Representing a good mix of youth and experience, they have strong performances in the recent past to show.

Go for it #TeamIndia!🔥🔥🔥#JeetengeOlympics #Olympians #RoadToTokyo #Shooting @KirenRijiju @OfficialNRAI pic.twitter.com/NUea5CqMid

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) April 5, 2021

Another quota holder Anjum Moudgil, a world championships silver medallist at the event, will get to compete in the 50m rifle three-position and in the 10m air rifle mixed team event (with Deepak Kumar). She has also exchanged the quota of pistol shooter Chinki Yadav, who in a huge disappointment is the only one among India’s record 15 quota winners to not find a place on the team. She rose to world No. 1 in 25m pistol after her gold medal show.

Elavenil Valarivan Tokyo Olympics:

Valarivan set a new record at National Shooting Selection Trials earlier this year. She shot a score of 253 at the finals of the National Shooting Selection Trials to claim the top honours in the women’s air rifle category on February 11. The 22-year-old Valarivan is the gold medallist in the 10m air rifle for women category in the World Cup and the World Cup finals in 2019.

The Indian Olympics shooting team (along with reserves):

Women: 10m air rifle: Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan.

Reserves: Anjum Moudgil, Shreya Agrawal.

50m rifle 3-position: Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant.

Reserves: Sunidhi Chauhan, Gaayathri NIthyanandam.

10m air pistol: Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

Reserves: P Shri Nivetha, Shweta Singh.

25m sports pistol: Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker.

Reserves: Chinki Yadav, Abhidnya Patil.

10m air rifle mixed team: Divyan Singh Panwar, Elavenil Valarivan; Deepak Kumar, Anjum Moudgil.

10m air pistol mixed team: Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker; Abhishek Verma, Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

Picture Credit: Deccan Chronicle