Sift Kaur Samra helped India continue its stellar run at the Asian Shooting Championship 2025 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, by winning the gold medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event on Tuesday.
The reigning Asian Games champion also bagged the team gold with Ashi Chouksey and Anjum Moudgil.
In the individual final, Sift Kaur Samra tallied 459.2 to top the standings ahead of the People’s Republic of China’s Yujie Yang, who shot 458.8.
Heading into the final two shots in standing position, Samra was trailing Yang by 0.3 points. The Indian held her nerve to score 9.6 and 10.0 with her last two triggers.
Meanwhile, Yang faltered with an 8.7 with her penultimate shot and even a 10.2 with her final attempt fell short of the gold. Japan’s Misaki Nobata took the bronze with 448.2.
Ashi Chouksey, the second Indian in the eight-woman shooting final, finished seventh with 402.8.
Earlier, Samra (589-24x) and Ashi (586-29x) had finished the qualification round in second and fifth place, respectively, to make the final.
Shriyanka Sadandi – another Indian – topped the qualifiers but was competing for Ranking Points Only (RPO). Anjum Moudgil had a disappointing outing as she placed 22nd with 578-19x.
However, Sift, Ashi and Anjum’s total tally of 1753 points proved enough to hand India the gold medal in the team category ahead of Japan, who managed three less. The Republic of Korea scored 1745 to take the bronze.
The two medals on Tuesday took India’s tally up to 19 medals – nine gold, three silver and seven bronze – in senior events at the 2025 Asian Shooting Championships.
Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker won three bronze medals, with one of them coming in an individual event – the women’s 10m air pistol.
The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition comprise 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters are also competing in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.
The Asian Shooting Championship 2025 will conclude on Friday.