New Delhi: India’s ace shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar delivered a clutch performance to clinch gold in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on Thursday.
Displaying remarkable composure in the final, Aishwary fired a superb 10.7 in his last shot to edge past teammate Neeraj Kumar by a narrow margin of 0.2 points. Neeraj, competing in his first individual international final, had entered the decisive 35th shot with a slender 0.2-point lead. After scoring 10.3, Aishwary needed at least 10.6 to secure gold. Rising to the occasion, the World Championship silver medallist surpassed expectations with a 10.7, finishing with 362.0 points against Neeraj’s 361.8.
Akhil Sheoran completed India’s podium sweep by claiming bronze with a final score of 343.5, ensuring a clean sweep for the host nation.
In the junior men’s final, Adrian Karmakar dominated the field to win his second gold of the championship with a score of 353.2, comfortably ahead of Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Kim, who settled for silver. India’s Manvendra Singh Shekhawat secured bronze with 338.6.
Earlier in qualification, Neeraj topped the standings with 593-34x, followed by Aishwary (588-40x) and Akhil (588-32x). Reigning 10m Air Rifle gold medallist Rudranksh Patil shot 591-33x, the second-highest qualification score, but competed only for ranking points. Nikhil Tanwar also shot for ranking points, scoring 587-29x.
The trio of Aishwary, Neeraj, and Akhil also combined to win the team gold, with Japan and Kazakhstan taking silver and bronze respectively, capping off a dominant day for Indian shooting.
