I wake up every single day looking forward to being my best: Shooter Elavenil

New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Elavenil Valarivan has been at the top of her game ever since she burst onto the international shooting scene as a prodigiously talented teenager. Still only 26, the rifle shooter has built a reputation not merely on brilliance but on unwavering consistency, making her one of India's most dependable performers. Her breakthrough came at the 2018 World University Games when she was just 18. Since then, she has evolved into a two-time Olympian, a World Championship medallist and a World Cup Finals gold winner. Ask the Tamil Nadu-born, Gujarat-based shooter the secret behind that consistency, and the answer is refreshingly simple. "I wake up every single day looking forward to being my best." That philosophy was on full display earlier this year when Elavenil completed a golden sweep at the Asian Championships, winning the women's 10m air rifle, team and mixed team titles. Riding high on that success, she is now preparing for her second Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya later this year, with the ISSF World Cup in Hangzhou (from July 20) her immediate assignment. Yet, success, she insists, has never been about chasing perfection. It is about returning to the fundamentals. "I have fallen back on my basics before major competitions and have just been working on the root of the sport. I think that has really been helping me, and I still look forward to being my best every single day," Elavenil said during an interaction. The three gold medals at the Asian Championships carried an emotional significance beyond the podium. They were her first international medals won on home soil. "Those were my first international medals on home soil. Winning in front of my near and dear ones was a very special feeling," she said. Indian shooting today boasts extraordinary depth, with young talent emerging at an unprecedented pace. But rather than viewing the next generation as a threat, Elavenil sees it as fuel for improvement. "The level of competition we have in India is incredibly high and it prepares us to put our best foot forward whenever we compete internationally. With youngsters coming up so early, it is an added motivation for all of us to be the best versions of ourselves. "I am really glad the competition in India is so tough because it prepares us for the international stage," she said. As she prepares for Hangzhou before shifting her focus to the Asian Games, Elavenil remains grounded in the philosophy that has defined her career. Her emphasis is not on medals but on mastering each day, each session and each shot. "It is more about everyday learning and being the best that I can be on that particular day. I am not really thinking about winning a medal, although that is obviously the goal. At the end of the day, what matters most is knowing that I gave my absolute best. "I am just looking forward to being myself and letting the day decide how it goes," said Elavenil, who will compete in the women's 10m air rifle and mixed team events at the Asian Games. For an athlete who has already scaled the heights of world shooting, the pursuit remains unchanged. Every morning brings another opportunity to improve, every competition another chance to rediscover the basics, and every shot another step in her relentless quest for excellence. With shooting now a year-round sport, the relentless cycle of training, competitions and ranking events places immense physical and mental demands on athletes. Asked whether burnout has become a genuine concern in a sport where shooters must constantly compete, protect their rankings and stay ahead of rivals, Elavenil admitted it is a challenge but one that can be managed through careful planning. "I think I could answer this in two ways. First, this is what we are supposed to do at the end of the day. We are so invested in the sport that if we wake up, we think about shooting, and when we go to bed, we are still thinking about it," she said. The other aspect, she explained, is strategic scheduling. "We plan our year very strategically -- which matches we want to play and which ones we can skip to focus on training. The federation has also capped our World Cup participation at two a year, which gives us more space for rest and recovery before coming back stronger. Burnout is real, but a lot depends on how strategically you plan your season," she said. With the Asian Games and the qualification cycle for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics approaching, Elavenil believes that meticulous planning has kept her in the right frame of mind for another demanding season. "I have been working a lot on my basics and I feel it has been helping me throughout. At the start of 2026, my only goal was to plan the year strategically because I knew we had the Asian Games and the World Championship. "I didn't want to exert myself so much that I wouldn't have the energy for the major championships at the end of the year. "My coach and I worked out meticulously which competitions I would skip, where I would take a break and where I would peak. I think that planning has really helped me," she concluded. PTI AM AM AH AH