India at World Shooting Championship review: A campaign defined by pistol brilliance and rifle strain
It was India shining at the Shooting World Championship in Cairo, Egypt.
For once, the pistol shooters stole the show. India had two world champions in Samrat Rana and Ravinder Singh.
Samrat, a calm 20-year-old from Haryana, delivered the men’s air pistol gold with a 10.6 final shot after topping qualification with 586.
It was an electric final. The Chinese shooter Hu Kai, who had won six World Cup gold medals this season, including all four individual events, fired a 10.8 on his last shot but still fell short of Samrat’s score by 0.4.
Samrat had shown signs of this rise in 2022 when he won two junior gold medals at the World Championship in Cairo, even though he did not reach the individual final then.
It was two gold medals again for Samrat, as he also secured the team gold with Varun Tomar, who won the individual bronze, and Sharvan Kumar, who missed the final by one point.
“I am happy, but would have been happier as the results were so close to being so much better”, observed coach Samaresh Jung.
He was quick to highlight that Ravinder’s free pistol gold was also top class, even if it came in a non-Olympic event, noting that Ravinder would have won the gold even if he had missed his last shot. Ravinder scored 569, while the silver medal went at 556 in the 50 metre event.
The icing on the cake, as India finished third on the medals table with three gold, six silver and four bronze behind China (12 gold, seven silver and two bronze) and Korea (seven gold, three silver and four bronze), was Samrat’s air pistol gold.
“He was exceptionally good. In the last 20 shots in qualification he had 18 straight 10s. He is focused and serious about his shooting. He listens and learns fast. He executes”, said Samaresh.
The coach was also delighted with Anish Bhanwala’s maturity and said he was very happy to see Anish competing strongly in the final before winning the silver medal in rapid fire pistol.
“You shoot five shots in four seconds. There is not much time to think, and even if you know what is happening, there is not much scope to correct. It could be worse when you try to change”, observed Samaresh as he explained the intricacies of rapid fire shooting, especially in the final.
“Anish came through four shoot-offs to reach this medal. It was commendable”, said Samaresh.
Samrat also won the mixed air pistol silver with Esha Singh. The pair was beaten 16-10 by the Chinese duo of Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai after topping qualification with 586, three points ahead of the Chinese.
The accomplished Esha, only 20, won the bronze in 25 metre sports pistol to add to her growing tally.
Remarkably, both Esha and double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker made the finals of the air pistol and sports pistol events.
The 23-year-old Manu, who has competed in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and has won more than 35 global medals including Youth Olympics gold in 2018, has managed to stay near the top despite all the attention and expectations.
She lost a shoot-off to Esha and Mathilde Lamolle of France to finish fifth in sports pistol.
It was a little disappointing for Suruchi Phogat, who had won air pistol gold in the first three World Cups this season. She missed the final by three points but helped the team secure the air pistol silver behind China.
“Suruchi has had a super year. She has a wonderful attitude and asserted cheerfully that she would get her chance next year in the World Championship”, said Samaresh.
Talent pipeline
The depth of Indian shooting remains one of its strengths. It does not depend on one athlete to carry the team. Results depend on performance on the day, and there are enough capable shooters to strike at any moment, as Samrat showed.
Olympian Gurpreet Singh lost the centre fire pistol gold on the count of inner 10s after tying on 584 with Pavlo Korostylov of Ukraine. His last shot of 9.9 cost him the title in the non-Olympic event, which does not feature a final.
Samaresh noted that non-Olympic events may not appear at the next Asian Games in Japan, but said it was important to keep competing as the 2030 Commonwealth Games in India would include all shooting events.
Bumpy ride
The rifle shooters, however, struggled to match the pistol contingent, which accounted for three gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
The rifle shooters produced only one silver and two bronze, but Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shone as he equalled the world record with a 597 in qualification in the 50 metre rifle 3 position event. He eventually missed the gold by 0.2 to China’s Liu Yukun.
“When you shoot that high a qualifying score, that too in such windy conditions, it is not easy to perform so well, the way Aishwary did. I liked his patience in waiting for the right moment to release every shot. It was a very high quality performance in such windy and light conditions”, said coach Manoj Kumar.
At 24, Aishwary has already built a sparkling career, having won Junior World Cup gold in Suhl, Germany, in 2019. The reigning Asian champion, he has won three World Cup gold medals, one each year from 2021 to 2023. He also won Junior World Championship gold in Lima, Peru, in 2021 with scores of 1185 in qualification and 463.4 in the final.
From finishing 21st at the Tokyo Olympics, Aishwary progressed to 11th in Paris with a score of 589. With exceptional consistency over the years, and four medals at the last Asian Games, he remains a major asset in the seasons ahead.
Manoj was also pleased with the improvement shown by Niraj Kumar, who shot 592 in both elimination and qualification rounds. He placed fifth in the rifle 3 position event and missed further progress by 0.5.
Olympic medallist Swapnil Kusale was working to regain his rhythm after returning to competition at the World Cup in China.
“Swapnil needs more training to get into his competitive rhythm. He was shooting good in training. But one or two shots in the final that don’t go well shakes the confidence of the shooter”, observed Manoj.
It was a similar case with world record holder and Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra, who had won a World Cup gold earlier. She has been recovering from an injury, and her 580 did not help the team after Ashi Chouksey (588) and Anjum Moudgil (587) scored higher. The Indian team missed a medal by four points.
“Sift lost 13 points in the kneeling position, and you don’t miss that many in the whole match”, said Manoj.
The encouraging part was that Sift missed only seven of the next 400 points in prone and standing. A hard-working student of the sport, she should be ready for upcoming competitions, starting with the World Cup Final in Doha, Qatar, from December 5 to 8.
It was left to two-time Olympian Elavenil Valarivan, now 26, to salvage the pride of the air rifle squad. She did so with a bronze medal behind Ban Hyojin of Korea and Wang Zifei of China. With 232.4, she missed a higher medal by 0.7.
She also helped the team win bronze with Meghana Sajjanar (631.2) and Shreya Agrawal (628.7), who placed 17th and 33rd respectively in a strong field of 120 shooters.
In mixed air rifle, Elavenil placed eighth with Arjun Babuta, who was not at his best, in another strong field of 66 teams.
Arjun did make the men’s air rifle final but placed seventh, while former world champion Rudrankksh Patil (631.4) and Vishal Singh (629.1) finished 13th and 61st among 109 shooters.
Road ahead
With Zoravar Singh Sandhu winning trap bronze at the Shotgun World Championship in Athens recently, Indian shooting continues to look promising. It was a rare World Championship medal in shotgun, and the 48-year-old Zoravar achieved it in his 14th appearance.
Samrat, meanwhile, was competing in only his third international event when he became world champion.
The complex outdoor conditions of shotgun and the speed of clay birds cannot be compared to the controlled environment and static targets of air pistol and rifle. The encouraging part is that Indian shooters are improving across disciplines, thanks to substantial investment from government and private sources.
From the time Abhinav Bindra (air rifle) and Manavjit Singh Sandhu (trap) won individual gold medals at the World Championship in Zagreb in 2006, Indian shooting has come a long way.
A committed group of Indian and foreign coaches has built a strong pathway toward progress. Despite continuing concerns around the selection process, there is genuine promise of better days ahead.
Published on Nov 19, 2025