Indian Shooter Sift Kaur Samra Clinches Gold in Sensational Comeback, Esha Singh Bags Silver at ISSF World Cup
Indian shooter Sift Kaur Samra delivered a spectacular performance to secure her first individual ISSF World Cup gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3-positions event, while Esha Singh claimed her second individual World Cup silver at the Buenos Aires stage in Argentina.
The 23-year-old Sift, hailing from Faridkot, earned India its first gold of the season-opening World Cup event at the Tiro Federal Argentino de Buenos Aires shooting range on Friday night. Despite trailing Germany’s Anita Mangold by a significant 7.2 points after the first Kneeling position, Sift staged a remarkable comeback in the Prone and Standing positions to clinch the title comfortably.
She finished the 45-shot final with a score of 458.6, while Mangold settled for silver with 455.3. Kazakhstan’s Arina Altukhova, a Junior World Championship medallist, took bronze with 445.9 points after bowing out in the 44th shot.
India now has three medals in the competition: a gold, a silver, and a bronze, the latter won by Chain Singh in the men’s 3P event earlier.
Sift’s Outstanding Performance
Sift qualified for the final in the top spot with a strong score of 590, overshadowing reigning Olympic champion Chiara Leone and former Olympic champion Nina Christen of Switzerland, who failed to make the top eight. Other Olympic medallists, such as Alexandria Le (Kazakhstan) and Mary Tucker (USA), also fell short in the qualifiers.
Despite a shaky start in the Kneeling position, Sift found her rhythm in her favoured Prone position, closing the gap with the leader to just 4.3 points. With a stellar 52.3 in the first series of Standing shots, she surged to joint third and never looked back. A steady second series of 51.2 saw her take the lead for the first time, and she sealed the victory with clutch shots of 10.5, 10.3, 10.5, 10.0, and 9.7.
Esha Singh’s Silver Medal
In the women’s 25m pistol final, Esha Singh scored 35 hits to claim silver, finishing behind China’s Sun Yujie, who won gold with 38 hits after the final five-shot series. Feng Sixuan, another Chinese shooter, secured bronze.
Indian shooters had to qualify for the final earlier on Saturday morning. Manu Bhaker, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the Paris Olympics to Hungarian Veronika Major, finished sixth in the final despite a strong start. Esha Singh shot a 294 in the rapid-fire round to qualify for the final with a total of 579, ensuring two Indians in the competition.
Esha made a strong comeback during the final, moving up from seventh to joint fourth with a series of four hits. She surged to second place after stellar performances in the fifth, sixth, and seventh series but ultimately fell short of catching Sun Yujie for the gold.
Skeet Challenge Ends Early for India
India’s medal hopes in the men’s and women’s skeet events ended in the qualification stage. Raiza Dhillon finished 11th in the women’s skeet with a score of 116, while Ganemat Sekhon (114) and Darshna Rathore (112) placed 14th and 17th, respectively.
In the men’s skeet, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka was the best-placed Indian at 20th with a score of 116, followed by Bhavtegh Gill in 21st and Gurjoat Khangura in 22nd.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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