Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 3 August: Olympians Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar won a silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team eventat the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China.
The Indian shooters topped the two qualification rounds with scores of 635.3 and 421.3, respectively. They took an early lead in thefinal against China’s Yu Zhang and Song Buhan. However, after levelling the scores at 7-7, the Chinese pair stepped up to win thematch 17-13. The USA beat Iran 16-8 to claim bronze.
The two medals took India’s tally in the Games to 23 medals – 11 gold, five silver and seven bronze. As many as 14 medals – eightgold, four silver and two bronze – were won by the shooters.
Later in the day, Bhavani Bhagavathi Yadav claimed a bronze in the women’s long jump for India’s first medal in athletics in the Games.
The 24-year-old Bhavani was out of the top five for the most part but produced her best attempt of 6.32m on her sixth and final try toseal a bronze medal.
“I am finding it hard to express my feelings because it is my first international event,” Bhavani said. “I rose from eighth placeto (win) the bronze medal. My performance was not up to the mark but I have got a medal and it’s for my country.”
Poland’s Nikola Horowska claimed gold with a personal best of 6.60m while her compatriot Magdalena Bokun logged 6.41m to clinch silver.
About 230 Indian athletes are competing at the Chengdu meet. The World University Games, which is held biennially, is one of thelargest multi-sport events in the world. It will conclude on August 8.