Asian Shooting Championship: Sift Kaur Samra shoots gold in 50m Rifle 3 Positions

India’s ace shooter and Olympian Sift Kaur Samra secured her first Asian crown by winning the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) gold medal at the ongoing 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent on Tuesday (August 26). Her victory led to a stellar day for Indian shooting, with the junior shooters adding six more gold medals, along with two silvers and one bronze, to the medal tally. Despite starting in seventh place after the Kneeling position, Sift delivered a remarkable comeback. Her precision and calm under pressure, particularly in the final Standing position, saw her finish with a score of 459.2, edging out China’s Yang Yujie by 0.4 points.

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The turning point came during the last series, where Sift shot 10.7 and 10.8 to take the lead. Though Yang briefly overtook her with a 10.9 on the 37th shot, Sift regained the top spot and sealed the gold with a final shot of 10.0—her 11th shot in the 10s during Standing. Sift also led India to team gold in the women’s 3P event, alongside Ashi Chouksey and Anjum Moudgil, with a total score of 1753, finishing three points ahead of China. Sift had topped qualification with 589, and Ashi joined her in the final, finishing seventh.

Juniors add to India's medal tally.

India’s junior shooters had a golden day, sweeping several events across rifle, pistol, and shotgun categories. In the Junior Women’s 3P Rifle event, Anushka Thokur bagged gold with a score of 460.7, finishing five points ahead of Korea’s Sehee Oh. Mahit Sandhu and Prachi Gaikwad were placed fifth and sixth with scores of 414.7 and 413.9, respectively. The trio secured team gold with a combined score of 1758. Coming to the Junior Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Sameer Gulia won bronze with a final score of 21. Suraj Sharma (12) and Abhinav Choudhary (4) finished fifth and sixth.

Together, the three won the team gold with a score of 1724, with Suraj topping the qualification round. In the Junior Women’s Trap, Sabeera Haris took gold with 39 hits, narrowly beating 15-year-old Addya Katyal, who won silver with 38. Bhavya Tripathi placed sixth, and the trio combined for another team gold with a score of 324. Meanwhile, in the Junior Men’s Trap event, Aryavansh Tyagi earned silver after losing a shoot-off to Kazakhstan’s Nikita Moisseyev. Both were tied at 40 at the end of the final. Ghassan Baaklini of Lebanon took bronze. Aryavansh, Arjun (4th place), and Udhav Singh Rathore secured team gold, with Udhav shooting 106 in qualification.

With just two events remaining — the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol and Trap mixed team — India and China are tied with six gold medals each, setting the stage for an exciting finish in the medal standings.