Simranpreet Kaur Brar Ties World Junior Record With ISSF Gold, Aishwary Takes 3P Silver

Young Simranpreet Kaur Brar triumphed over a challenging field to secure the women’s 25m pistol gold, while men’s 50m rifle 3-position specialist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar earned a silver on his ISSF World Cup Final debut on Sunday, completing a full set of medals at all world and continental championships in the sport.

Simranpreet, whose father left his government job to support her, made her parents proud with the biggest achievement of her career by shooting a remarkable 41 in the final, equalling the World junior record.

The other Indian finalist, Esha Singh, finished seventh. Double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker did not make it to the final, ending ninth in the qualification round with a score of 581.

In the qualification round, 21-year-old

Simranpreet, who had won silver at the World Cup in Lima earlier this year, shot 585, while Esha tallied 585 to finish fifth and fourth respectively and reach the final.

Simranpreet started slowly, missing three targets in the first series of five shots and slipping to the eighth position. However, she rallied and fired three perfect 5s to surpass China’s ace shooter and reigning 10m air pistol world champion Yao Qianxun, who finished second with 36 points, and former world champion Doreen Vennekamp of Germany, who took the bronze.

In men’s 50m rifle 3-positions, Aishwary finished 0.9 points behind Czechia’s Jiri Privratsky, who shot 414.2 in the final under the new ISSF format of 40 shots. Olympic champion Liu Yukun won bronze.

Aishwary, a double Olympian, former junior world champion, and reigning Asian champion, also secured silver at last month’s World Championship. He shot 595 in qualification to finish second behind China’s Tian Jiaming, who set a world record with 598.

Athlete of the Year Jon-Hermann Hegg of Norway and Hungarian ace Istvan Peni were among the top eight finalists, which included three Chinese shooters.

Aishwary was fourth with a score of 102.8 after the first kneeling position, shot over two series of five shots each. He gained momentum in the second prone position, climbing to second on the leaderboard with strong series of 52.9 and 52.

Privratsky was 3.3 points ahead of Aishwary at this stage, with Olympic champion Liu in third place and 20 standing position shots remaining. Aishwary narrowed the gap over the next 10 shots, reducing it to 1.5 points, and further to 0.5 after the 31st shot as Privratsky struggled to hit the 10-ring.

Peni and Tian were the first to exit the final, while Aishwary took the lead after the 33rd shot. Frenchman Romain Aufrere lost the battle for bronze to the Olympic champion, as Privratsky caught up with Aishwary and went 0.5 ahead after the 37th shot with high 10s, as Aishwary faltered.

The gap was just 0.3 ahead of the final two shots. Aishwary fired a 10.1 to Privratsky’s 10.3, and a 10.6 for his 40th shot, securing Privratsky’s gold, his third ISSF yellow metal of the year.

Aishwary concluded the year strongly after a barren first half. It was India’s fourth medal of the event in Doha.

Sift Kaur Samra in the women’s 3P shot 584 in her relay, finishing 10th and failing to qualify for the final.

(With agency inputs)