India, Sept. 22 -- At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Elavenil Valarivan was a teenager who was left heartbroken seeing her rifle jam mid-competition. She finished 14th in qualification and did not advance to the final. Eight years later, on Sunday, she stood on the podium in Aichi-Nagoya not once but twice, winning India its first medal of the Asian Games 2026, a silver in the women's 10m air rifle team event, then hours later she added another silver in the individual event.

For the 27-year-old Arjuna Awardee, what changed between Jakarta and Nagoya was not just her shooting. It was everything around it. "To win an Asian Games medal was a dream that was etched in my heart. As I sat on that flight to Japan, I felt confident of winning,...