India take silver in women’s 10m air rifle team at Asian Games 2026
India’s women’s 10m air rifle team of Sonam Uttam Maskar, Elavenil Valarivan and Vidarsa K Vinod claimed silver at the Asian Games 2026 at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery on Sunday, September 20, posting a combined score of 1898.0. The result represents India’s first medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
China won gold in the event with 1904.2, a new world record set by Wang Zifei, Han Jiayu and Du Yechen; the previous best of 1902.0 had been established by Liu Yafei, Peng Xinlu and Zhang Liyuan at last year’s Asian Championships. MMA fighter Suchika Tariyal had earlier guaranteed India a podium place by reaching the semi-finals. The women’s 10m air rifle was the only shooting competition on the programme on Sunday, and India’s 30-member shooting squad had returned from Hangzhou 2022 with 22 medals—7 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze.
Wang Zifei opened the qualification with 636.8 in the first relay, narrowly short of the 637.9 qualification world record she set in June 2025, while Korea’s Ban Hyojin shot 634.9 in the same relay. Those early high scores laid the foundation for China’s record-setting total.
Within the Indian trio, Sonam led the way in qualification with 634.1, finishing in the top four and making her Asian Games debut. Elavenil produced 633.5 to place seventh after slipping to eighth at the start of her final series; she is a world championship medallist and was Asian champion in 2025 and 2026. Vidarsa opened with 105.9, posted 106.2 in her fourth series but dropped to ninth after a 104.4 in the sixth and finished 12th with 630.4, missing the individual final.
Japan took bronze on 1897.1, 0.9 points adrift of India, while Korea ended fourth on 1895.8 after remaining in contention until the closing stages. South Korea’s challenge was damaged by Cho Eunbyeol’s closing-stage scores of 103, 104 and 105, which reduced their overall total.
Sonam Uttam Maskar and Elavenil Valarivan will proceed to the eight-woman individual final scheduled for 11:00 am IST, while Vidarsa K Vinod did not make the cut.
