NEW DELHI:
Elavenil Valarivan and
Divyansh Singh Panwar
gave India a perfect start on the fourth day of competition at the
ISSF World Cup
, clinching the
gold medal
in a see-saw final of the
10m air rifle mixed team
event at the
Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range
here.
Elavenil and Divyansh emerged on the top of the podium, edging past the Hungarian pair of Eszter Denes and Istvan Peni 16:10 to claim the yellow metal. The mixed team event is a medal round at the Tokyo Olympics scheduled later this year. This was India's fourth gold medal at the ongoing World Cup.
Divyansh had earlier won an individual bronze in the men's 10m air rifle on Saturday.
In the mixed team final, India had surged ahead with an impressive 5:1 lead, riding on some high 10s by the Indian pairing. Hungary, however, made a brilliant comeback to catch up with the Indians at 6-all.
Elavenil and Divyansh wrest the advantage with some fantastic scoring to take 10-6 lead. Both were hitting the target in the range of 10.5s. The Hungarian pair once again caught up with the Indians at 10-all and looked primed to take the lead.
But the Indians decisively shifted gears as Elavenil and Divyansh shot an identical 10.8 to give India a four-point cushion at 14:10.
In the gold-silver shot of the series, both Elavenil and Divyansh shot 10.4 each to score a total of 20.8 points. For Hungary, Peni hit a fantastic 10.7 but Eszter could disappointingly manage a 9.9 for a total of 20.6 as the Indians settled the score 16:10 in their favour.
In the bronze-medal match, USA's Mary Carolynn Tucker and Lucas Kozeniesky defeated the Polish pair of Aneta Stankiewicz and Tomasz Bartnik 17-15 to finish third.