Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela fail to qualify for 10m air rifle final

Elavenil finished 16th in the qualification round with a score of 626.8 and Apurvi finished lower at 36th with a score of 621.9. Only the top eight qualify for the final.

Elavenil Valarivan showed signs of jitters as she failed to qualify for the 10m air rifle final at Tokyo Olympics.

Halfway into the qualification round, it seemed like Elavenil Valarivan may just make the final of the women's 10m air rifle event at the Asaka shooting range here, when she entered the top-10. The 21-year-old, a former world number one, averaged 10.4 in the first two series before shooting consecutive high 10s to storm to a 10.6 average in the third.

But starting series four, it was a tale of the opposite. She began to take more time in between her shots, which was quite uncharacteristic. The change in tempo seemed to affect the synergy between her mind and the finger pulling the trigger.

As it Happened

She dipped out of the race for the top-eight and eventually finished 16th with a total qualification score of 626.5.

Apurvi Chandela, who shot a mind-numbing world record of 252.9 to won the World Cup in New Delhi in 2019, meanwhile, had a meek outing in her second Olympic campaign.

The 28-year-old looked good in patches and had a few high 10s, but her shots were peppered with a few too many 9s. Far from contention for a slot in the final, she bowed out with a total of 621.9 to finish 36th among 50 shooters.