'I did my absolute best': Elavenil’s golden dream falls short, but double silver ends eight-year Asian Games wait

The gold was within touching distance — a mere 0.6 points away. But after leading for much of the 10m air rifle final, Elavenil Valarivan, India’s shooting super star in the making for almost a decade, had to settle for silver.At the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery on a Sunday afternoon, Elavenil provided India’s individual silver lining, while the trio of Elavenil, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod added another silver in the team event.China set a world record of 1904.2 to win the team gold, with India second with 1898, bettering the previous Asian Games record of 1896.6. Hosts Japan took bronze with a score of 1897.1.In the individual final, the 27-year-old made a confident start and, at one stage, held a 1.5-point lead. But as the final entered its business end, the Indian admitted to having “relaxed a bit”, and the gold slipped away.The final was a pulsating affair. Elavenil, who had looked composed throughout, saw her lead disappear late on. With one final shot to come, she produced a 10.1 to finish on 252.4, narrowly missing out on gold. Japan’s Hinata Taichi finished with a flourish, shooting a total of 253 to win the gold and better the Games record of 252.7.Elavenil’s infectious smile wavered briefly. But the overriding expression on her face was relief.After all, these medals had been eight years in the making.If there were nerves, Elavenil did not show them. As she entered the final, she appeared focused and almost oblivious to the competition, which included South Korea’s Olympic and world champion Ban Hyo-jin, who settled for bronze.The teenager who burst onto the scene almost a decade ago has endured more than her share of heartbreak on the biggest stages. Her Asian Games debut in Jakarta in 2018 ended in an anticlimax after a rifle malfunction, while she failed to make the finals at both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.Those difficult years, she said, were “important for consistency over the years”.On missing out on gold, Elavenil was candid.“I really need to work on my finals more. I knew that I was in the top three. Although I was coming back to focusing on my process and my technique, I did get a bit relaxed. Once the medal was assured, the pressure was released. It was more about me getting a little easy on my process,” she said.“I felt I gave my absolute best and I am glad that it turned out this way,” she added.Elavenil has been on a roll over the past 15 months, with podium finishes at the Asian Championships, World Championships and the Munich World Cup.“I am very grateful that I have been getting many opportunities to learn and experiment and utilise my potential to my absolute best,” she said.As she was being ushered into the press conference, Elavenil pulled out her phone and called her coach Neha Chavan. With the two silver medals around her neck, she flashed her brightest smile.“Ma’am, I just wanted to show the medals to you,” she said.After the press conference, she did the same with her mentor Gagan Narang, who, incidentally, had won silver in the corresponding men’s events at the 2010 Asian Games.Neha may not have been there to watch her climb the podium, but her words stayed with Elavenil.“You have trained your best. There’s nothing more you can do on the day. All I can wish for you is to follow the technique, trust yourself and be courageous, as you have always been,” Neha had told her, Elavenil revealed.Before heading into the final, Elavenil had pulled out her diary. She wrote just one line: “I did my absolute best.”Before she could write more, she was called into the arena.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.