ELAVENIL SETS SIGHT ON LA

Former world no 1 in 10m shooting, and an Amdavadi, Elavenil Valarivan missed place in finals at Paris by 0.5 Points; 25-year-old talks to AM about her preparations for LA Olympic games

- Kinjal Shah

• PARIS DISAPPOINTMENT A STEPPING STONE FOR LA

Even after a disappointing performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, former world no 1 in the 10m rifle event and thorough Amdaadi Elavenil Valarivan was determined bring home a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, fate had other plans.

Missing out on the final by just 0.5 points, Elavenil is now taking a muchneeded break before embarking on her training for the 2028 LA Olympics.

Excerpts from the interview:

What happened in Paris?

I participated in two events—one was the mixed doubles, where I was paired with Sandeep Singh from the Army, and the second was the individual event. The mixed event didn’t go well, as it was the first match of the entire Olympic tournament. We gave it our all, but it just wasn’t enough. We were more confident about our individual events the next day, but in the final three shots, I scored a 9.8, which dropped me to 10th position. Usually, the top eight advance to the finals. I missed the finals by just 0.5 points, and that stings. Now, I’ll have to wait another four years to make up for that 0.5.

What exactly went wrong?