Indian shooters failed to win LA Olympic quota places in air rifle events on the opening day of the ISSF World Championships in Doha. Elavenil Valarivan qualified for the final in 10m air rifle women's competition but bowed out in sixth place.
Three quota places in one event were up for grabs. In men's air rifle no Indian shooter made the cut for the final.In the qualification, Elavenil scored 634.2 and finished in third place (Kasumi Fukudome/Kyodo News via A)In the qualification, Elavenil scored 634.2 and finished in third place.
Olympic champion Ban Hyo-jin of South Korea, who is also the defending world champion, topped the qualification with a score of 636.9. China Zifei Wang came second (635.0).This is the first competition in shooting offering LA Olympics quota places and world's best have gathered to make the most of the opportunity first up.
With six of world's top eight shooters in fray in the final, it was going to be a tough competition.Elavenil kept herself in contention till the 12th shot (125.7) where she was placed 4th and locked in a close battle with Oceanne Muller (125.4) of France — 0.3 separating them. But Muller shot a perfect 10.9 under pressure to move up and Elavenil could respond with just 10.4.The Indian next shot 10.3, even as Aigul Khabibullina of Russia hit 10.8 to jump three places to third, pushing Elavenil further down to 6th place after 14 of 24 shots were fired.
With elimination on the line, Elavenil shot 10.3 and 10.6, but it was not enough for her, and she eventually finished 6th after 16 shots.Elavenil, the two-time Olympian, has been on a hot streak since last year, winning bronze at the 2025 World Championships, gold at the Asian Championships and silver at the Asian Games.The quota places went to Korea as 19-yearold Ban Hyo-jin bounced back to claim gold hitting a perfect 10.9 in her 21st shot and finishing with a superb total of 253.1. She defended her world championships title in quote a style.China's Jiayu Han won the silver and quota place while compatriot Wang Zifei won the bronze but the quota went to France's Oceanne Muller who finished 4th as only one quota place is available for one NOC per event.In men's air rifle final, none of the three Indian shooter in fray could qualify.
Parth Rakesh Mane finished 16th with a score of 630.3. Himanshu Dhillon, the Asian Games bronze medallist, stood in 41st place (628.1) and Paarth Makhija was 61st among 67 shooters (625.2)China's Olympic champion Sheng Lihao was class apart as he first topped the qualification with a stunning score of 637.2 and then claimed gold medal and quota place with a strong performance.
He shot a total of 254.1 points to win the world title. His compatriot Ma Sihan won the silver (253.1 points) and Croatia's Miran Maricic claimed bronze (229.9 points).
With one quota berths going to one country, China, Croatia and Slovakia secured their qualification places in 10m air rifle.