Elavenil Valarivan’s Asian Games breakthrough: How Gagan Narang helped her find a different version of herself

Indian rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan won two silver medals in the 10M Air Rifle event at the Asian Games in Japan. | Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

The numbers lined up perfectly nearly 16 years apart. Two India shooters, both former World No. 1s from Tamil Nadu, won Asian Games silver medals in two identical events.

Gagan Narang had finished second in both the individual and team 10m air rifle events at Guangzhou 2010. Elavenil Valarivan, his protege, matched the feat at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery on Sunday, September 20.

An elated Narang wasn’t about to let the coincidence pass without teasing the 27-year-old markswoman. “Just stop copying me,” he chuckled when the two spoke on a video call after the medal ceremony.

Elavenil may have replicated one of the most defining results of Narang’s career, but the significance of her own two silver medals lay elsewhere. After failing to even make it past the qualification rounds in the previous two editions of the Olympics and the 2018 Asian Games, Elavenil had finally broken through at a major multi-discipline event.

Narang would tell you the Elavenil who had just rocked the Asiad stage in Japan is not the same shooter who had walked away from Paris two years ago. “She’s a different person altogether now. What she had learned until Paris was one part. And what she has learned since is completely different,” he told Sportstar.

That difference was visible even in defeat. Elavenil, who had looked in control for much of the eight-woman final, watched with the calm of someone who had been here before as her sizeable lead shrunk before home favourite Hinata Taichi pulled ahead and took gold with 253.0. For Narang, even that equanimity is a part of a holistic transformation. “Overall, she is more mature now. And wise. She is in a good space at the moment. A lot of times now, she’s proved she has more confidence than earlier. At the end of the day, you can shoot all 10.7s, but if the other shooter is registering only 10.8s, you can’t win. Doesn’t mean you had a bad day either.”

The post-match review, if there ever was one, never dwelled on the medal that got away. It was about identifying the variables that can be prepared for ahead of the next competition. Narang calls it learning to ‘control the uncontrollables’.

“When everything is going right, you don’t need anything. But when things go wrong — and generally a lot of things go wrong when you are competing — how you handle those becomes very important,” he said.

That lesson is rooted in Narang’s own career. He remembers entering the London Olympics with a very specific target. In both his first and second Olympics — Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 — his 40th shot had been an 8.9. It became ‘a mental block’.

“So, when I was shooting London (2012), my goal was the 40th shot only. I said, whatever happens, the 40th shot should be good,” he recalled. “That whole Olympics I only prepared for my 40th shot. Somewhere, I knew if I went through with the 40th shot, I could do very well.” Narang went on to win the bronze medal in that edition.

For Elavenil, Narang believes her Asian Games medals can serve a similar purpose. Now, finally, she has an answer for questions that have haunted her since 2018.

“The Asian Games medal for Ela (as she is lovingly called in the fraternity) was like that monkey off the back,” Narang said. “Today she put it to rest. Hereon, I believe she will be a completely changed person. Her inner thought process, which is good, gives her confidence.”

Perhaps that is why Narang sees Elavenil’s Asian Games silver medals as more significant than their colour alone.

There is still plenty of road ahead. The Doha World Championships will be an Olympic quota-winning opportunity, with qualification for Los Angeles beginning to take shape. But the strategy for LA2028, Narang insists, will not simply be a continuation of what came before.

“The strategy that we had followed going into Paris will not be the strategy that we will follow when we go into LA. It will be entirely different,” he said.

For now, Narang is careful not to claim ownership of Elavenil’s success. His role, he claims, is deliberately less intrusive. Rather than dictating Elavenil’s every move, he aims to be just another resource in her toolkit. His objective is to make the athlete “intelligent enough to choose the right tool at the right time.”

While it does make him proud, Narang isn’t particularly interested in preserving the strange numerical symmetry of their careers. He would rather have Elavenil break it soon.

Published on Sep 21, 2026

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