Revision as of 04:41, 12 December 2017

Expenses in the sport: Shooting; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, August 19, 2016

International standing

Biju BabuCyriac, The Times of India Jul 22 2016, Who will emulate Bindra at Rio's ranges?

Right from the time Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore shot silver in double trap 12 years back [2004] in Athens, Indian shooters have consistently delivered on the biggest stage. Abhinav Bindra reached the zenith in Beijing [in 2008] and the contingent returned from London [2012] with another impressive haul through Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang. Such is the talent pool that it is now difficult to get into the Indian team even if you bag a quota place for the country .

Their impressive history meant shooters were among those who have got the maximum support under the government's Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme. Even after the exit of rifle coach Stanislav Lapidus, the shooters were provided all support to travel to off-shore destinations to continue their training with Stass.

In 2016 (before the Olympics)

Jitu World No. 3

Apurvi The Commonwealth Games champion.

Bindra:. The dasher from Chandigarh battled the agony after crashing out in Athens and bettered the Chinese in Beijing to become one in a billion. Four years later he missed out again as Vijay Kumar led the charge with his silver medal.

Gagan Narang London bronze medallist

Manavjit Singh Sandhu: Trap shooter former world champion. Olympics is the only medal missing from his glittering collection.

Famous shooters

Abhinav bindra

The Times of India, Dec 31 2014

Abhinav Bindra has been saying he's a hobby shooter from now on. But on current form, the Olympic gold-medallist is India's best bet for a medal in 2016 Rio Games after clinching an elusive CWG gold and a bronze in Incheon.

Jitu Rai

The Times of India, Dec 31 2014

Jitu Rai is fast becoming the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian shooting. With seven medals in 2014, the marksman's winning streak is remarkable. The shooter bagged three World Cup medals in nine days in June -the 10m air pistol silver in Munich and a silver (50m free pistol) and gold (10m air pistol) in Maribor. He followed it up with the 50m free pistol gold in CWG Glasgow and the Asian Games.

2015

Airgun Shooting

The Times of India, Oct 01 2015

India overall champions

Heena bags Gold as hosts top table with 17 medals in Asian air gun shooting

Hosts India ended their campaign on a high as Heena Sidhu and Shweta Singh won the women's 10m air pistol gold and silver respectively in 8th Asian Air Gun Shooting Championships at the Dr Karni Singh ranges.

It was Shweta who was ahead of Heena by 0.1 point till the 18th shot.But Shweta fumbled in the 19th shot and hit an 8.9 while Heena hit a 10.5 to surge ahead. The 8-pointer did the damage to Shweta's gold prospect and she couldn't come back in spite of shooting 10.0 compared to Heena's 9.2, lagging by 0.8 point. The bronze went to Korea's Kim Seon (175.8). Third Indian in fray, YashaswiniDeswal (155.3) finished fourth.

The team gold in the event too went to India with 1157 points, while Sri Lanka (1098) and Hong Kong (1094) took silver and bronze respectively. In the qualifications, the Indian trio of Heena, Yashashwini and Shweta shot impressive scores to march towards the final. While Heena and Yashashwini shot an identical 387, Shweta struck 383. The scores are good enough to take the shooters to the final even at a worldlevel event. The trio will now shoot at the Asian Championships in Kuwait in November, which is the last quota event for the Rio Olympics.

In the junior women category though there was a clean sweep, the fact that there were only four participants in the event, brought down the importance of the medals. Shri NivethaParamanantham clinched gold after scoring 200.7 in the final.She had shot 380 in qualifications.The silver went to Gauri Sheoran (380 and 198.0) and bronze to Shreya Gawande (378 and 179.9).

It was Iran's day in the youth women's final, as Haniyeh Rostamiyan won gold after shooting 195.6 in the final. The silver too went to Iran with LayaMohammadi was just 0.2 (195.4) points behind the topper. India's HarshadaNithave was third with 174.8 points. The team gold went to India with MalaikaGoel (374), Harshada (373) and Nayani Bhardwaj (369) taking the total to 1116. Iran bagged silver with 1104 points and Chinese Taipei got bronze 1100.

India topped with six gold, five silver and six bronze. Iran were second with 12 medals (6 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze) and Tajikistan third with five medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).

Asian Shooting Championship

Medals won

The Times of India, November 4, 2015

Day 1

The Indian shooting squad began its campaign at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship on an impressive note as they bagged five medals. The 10-metre air rifle women's youth team won the day's only gold for India when Prachi Gadkari, Gayatri Pawaskar and Aashi Rastogi finished with a combined total of 1226.8 at the end of their qualification rounds. Prachi also won the individual bronze in the event. In the 10m air rifle junior women's competition, Mampi Das and Shriyanka Sadangi won the team silver medal . In the 50m free pistol for junior men, Sumedh Kumar won bronze.

Day two

Press Trust of India, November 4, 2015

Jitu Rai wins silver in 13th Asian Shooting Championship

Ace shooter Jitu Rai won India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship, finishing second behind Korea's Park Daehun in the finals of the men's 50m pistol.

Park shot a finals world and Asian record score of 199.2 to clinch the gold medal. Jitu finished with a finals score of 189.5, in the process beating his long-time rivals Jin Jongoh of Korea and Vladimir Issachenko of Kazakhstan. Rai won India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship, finishing second behind Korea's Park Daehun in the finals of the men's 50m pistol.

Jitu qualified for the finals in 7th position with a score of 555. Prakash Nanjappa finished 11th in qualifying with a score of 553, while Omkar Singh finished 24th with 545.

In the 10m air rifle junior men's event, India's Akhil Sheoran won a silver medal and Prashant won a bronze respectively. Xuechao Qian of China won the gold in the event.

Akhil and Prashant also teamed up with Pratik Borse to win the team silver in the event. In the 10m air rifle senior event for men, India's Satyendra Singh finished 5th in the finals.

N Gayathri won the day's fifth medal for India when she bagged the silver in the junior women's 50m rifle prone event with a score of 614.6. The gold went to Iran's Fatemeh Karamzadeh who finished with 617.3. Another Iranian Najmeh Khidmati won the bronze in the event. The trio of Gayathri, Srinithi Venkatesh and Sonika also won India a silver medal in the team event for the competition shooting a combined total of 1830.

The seventh medal of the day was won by the 10m air rifle men's youth team comprising Satyajeet Kandhol, Gajendra Rai and Babu Mithiliesh who bagged the team bronze.

Among the senior women, Kuheli Gangulee finished 4th in the 50m rifle prone event while Lajja Gauswami finished 9th and Elizabeth Susan Koshy finished 20th in the final standings. The trio also combined to finish 4th in the team competition of the same event.

In the women's 25m pistol, Heena Sidhu, Gauri Sheoran and Annu Raj Singh could not qualify for the finals.

Day three

The Indian shooting contingent added seven more medals to their kitty, five among them Gold, here on Day 3 of the 13th Asian Shooting Championship at Kuwait City. This takes India’s overall medal tally from the competition to 21. The summary of India’s medal-winning results on Day 3 is as follows:

10M Air Pistol Youth Men

Shainki Nagar of India won Gold with a finals score of 197. Samarjit Singh of India won the Bronze shooting 174.1 in the finals. The two combined with Mohit Gour to also win the Team Gold in the event shooting a combined total of 1690 to beat the Korean team which shot a total of 1677 while Thailand team won the Bronze shooting 1629.

10M Air Pistol Men Junior

Sumedh Kumar bagged his 3rd medal of the competition winning Bronze

He also won the Team Gold in the event combining with Hemendra Kushwaha and Achal Pratap Grewal to shoot a total score of 1706.

50M Rifle Prone Men Junior

Swapnil Kusale struck Gold in the event shooting a finals score of 185.4. The Silver was won by Qatar’s Mohammad Saad Almubarak of Qatar and the Bronze by Ce Wang of China. India also won the Team Gold in the event when Swapnil Kusale, Ishan Goel and Akhil Sheoran shot a combined total of 1839.4 to beat the teams from Korea and China who won Silver and Bronze respectively.

Day 4

Day 5

The Hindustan Times, November 6, 2015

Heena Sidhu wins gold in 13th Asian Shooting Championship

India’s Heena Sidhu made a grand return to form by winning the gold medal in the 10m air pistol women’s event at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship.

Heena, who won a gold at the righth Asian Air Gun Championship at home recently, shot an excellent 198.2 in the finals to edge out Mongolian Gundegma Otreyad, who shot 198. Jangmi Kim of Korea won the bronze with a score of 176.2. In the 10m air pistol junior women’s event, Shri Nivetha too won a gold with a score of 195.8 in the finals. She edged out Shinemurun Nyamdorj of Mongolia (195.4) and Heesun Kim of Korea (174.4), who won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Shreya Gawande, Shri Nivetha and Oshin Tawani also combined to win the team gold with a combined total of 1114. Mongoloia won the silver and Korea bagged the bronze Besides, the Indian trio of Nayani Bharadwaj (374), Harshada Nithave (374) and Malaika Goel (365) also won the a gold in the team event of the 10M air pistol uouth women’s event. In the 25m pistol men’s junior event, India’s Shivam Shukla won gold shooting a score of 576. Korea’s Jungwoo Park (575) and Jaekyoon Lee (572) claimed the silver and bronze respectively. Shivam, Arjun Das and Achal Pratap Grewal also won the silver medal in the team event. Meanwhile in the junior skeet men’s competition, Angad Bajwa secured the individual gold. The team of Angad Bajwa (121), Anant Naruka (112) and Arjun Mann (114) shot a total of 347 to walk away with the team gold also in this category.

Day 6

Sources:

1. The Times of India, Nov 10 2015

2. Press Trust of India

Indian team members with the medals during the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City. (Image Credit: NRAI); Graphic courtesy: Press Trust of India , November 8, 2015

India Top Medal Standings on Day 6 of the 13th Asian Shooting Championship

India went ahead of China with a total of 12 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze for a total haul of 28 medals with three more days left. China has 11 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals. India on jumped to the top of the overall medal standings a the 13th Asian Shooting Championship with six more medals to their kitty on Day 6 of competitions here. India went ahead of Chi na with a total of 12 gold, 8 sil ver and 8 bronze for a tota haul of 28 medals with three more days left. China has 11 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals. In men's 25m standard pistol event, Mahendra Singh won the silver shoot ing a total of 572. Korean Dae Kyu Jang won the gold with 581 points. Mahendra teamed up with Gurpreet Singh and Neeraj Kumar to win the team bronze in the event. Lajja Gauswami, Anjum Moud gil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy shot a total of 1734 to bag the team event bronze.China won gold with a score of 1749 while Korea won silver shooting a combined score of 1737.

India jumped on top of overall medal standings at 13th Asian Shooting Championship with six more medals to their kitty on Day 6 of competitions in Kuwait. India went ahead of China with a total of 12 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze for a total haul of 28 medals with three more days left. China has 11 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals.

In men's 25m standard pistol event, Mahendra Singh won the silver shooting a total of 572. Korean Dae Kyu Jang won the gold with 581 points.

Mahendra teamed up with Gurpreet Singh and Neeraj Kumar to win the team bronze in the event. The trio shot a total of 1676 points. The Korean team won the gold with a total of 1698 while China won the silver shooting 1691

In women's 50m rifle 3 positions event, Lajja Gauswami qualified for the 8-women final but ended seventh shooting 404.6 in the finals.

Gauswami, Anjum Moudgil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy shot a total of 1734 to bag the team event bronze. China won gold with a score of 1749 while Korea won silver shooting a combined score of 1737.

In men's junior air standard pistol event, Achal Pratap Grewal shot 562 to win gold. Jungwoo Park and Jaekyoon Lee of Korea shot 561 and 560 respectively to win silver and bronze.

The Indian trio of comprising Achal Pratap Grewal, Shivam Shukla and Rituraj Singh also won gold in the team event ahead of the Korea and Mongolia.

Day 7

The Hindu, Nov 10 2015

Swapnil Kusale asserted his class in the final by winning the junior men’s rifle 3-position gold, his second individual gold, in the 13th Asian shooting championship in Kuwait on Tuesday.

After qualifying in the fourth place with a modest total of 1151, Kusale dominated the final to eventually prevail over Wang Ce of China by 3.5 points for the gold.

In the process, Mohammad Hossein Karimi of Iran, who had topped qualification with 1163 was pushed to the bronze medal.

Kusale’s effort, along with Akhil Sheoran and Ishan Goel, fetched the team silver for India. He had earlier won the rifle prone, individual and team gold.

There was no matching success in the rapid fire pistol event for the Indian camp, but the squad managed to add the team bronze in the men’s section and the team silver in the junior men’s event.

Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar continued to grapple with his form, and shot 570 that placed him 12th in a field of 26 shooters.

Neeraj Kumar made the final with 577, but ended fifth.

Olympic quota winner Gurpreet Singh, shooting in the ‘’Out of Competition’’ section, a replacement for the MQS section, could also muster only 571.

Among the juniors, Shivam Shukla and Rushiraj Barot made the final, and eventually placed fourth and fifth respectively. Together with Arjun Das, the trio won the team silver, a distant second, 51 points behind Korea.

With a gold, two silver and a bronze medal for the day, the Indian team took its overall tally to 17 gold, 13 silver and 12 bronze medals on the penultimate day of the championship.

The results:

Men: 25m rapid fire pistol: 1. Li Yuehong (Chn) 34 (585); 2. Zhang Fusheng (Chn) 32 (576); 3. Kim Jun Hong (Kor) 28 (586); 5. Neeraj Kumar 11 (577); 12. Vijay Kumar 570; 17. Akshay Suhas Astaputre 565. OOC: Gurpreet Singh 571.

Team: 1. China 1740; 2. Korea 1732; 3. India 1712. Junior men: 1. Park Jungwoo (Kor) 31 (573); 2. Jang Ji Won (PRK) 23 (557); 3. Youn Jinwon (Kor) 19 (573); 4. Shivam Shukla 11 (557); 5.

Rushiraj Barot 10 (556); 9. Arjun Das 534. OOC: George Thomas 514. Team: 1. Korea 1698; 2. India 1647; 3. Thailand 1616. 50m rifle 3-position: Junior men: 1. Swapnil Kusale 453.3 (1151); 2. Wang Ce (Chn) 449.8 (1153); 3. Mohammad Hossein Karimi (Iri) 438.6 (1163); 6. Akkhil Sheoran 404.2 (1134); 13. Ishan Goel 1105. Team: 1. China 3450; 2. India 3390; 3. Korea 3383.

Final day

The Times of India, Nov 12 2015

Vijay shoots two medals to take India's final tally to 44

London Olympics Silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot two more medals on the final day of the 13th Asian Shooting Championship here to take India's final tally to 44 including 17 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze. Vijay won the Bronze in the 25M Center Fire Pistol event and also teamed up with veteran Samaresh Jung and Pemba Tamang to bag the Team Silver in the event. The penultimate day had also produced success galore for the Indian shooters as they racked up four medals. Swapnil Kusale struck gold in the 50m rifle 3 position event for junior men by shooting 453.3 in the finals. He then teamed up with Akhil Sheoran and Ishan Goel to also win the team silver with a combined score of 3390, as India finished behind China who shot a score of 3450. Korea won the bronze with a score of 3383.

2016

Junior World Cup

India finished second with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals at the year's second and final Junior World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan. Russia topped the medal standings with 12 Golds for the total of 25 medals. A total of 18 countries won medals at the competition. (PTI |September 22, 2016| Indian shooters finish second in Junior World Cup)

Subhankar Pramanick and Sambhaji Patil won gold. (Tushar Dutt, Subhankar and Sambhaji shoot gold in Junior World Cup, Sep 19 2016 : The Times of India)

Kolkata's Subhankar won the top place in 50m prone rifle event, while Aurangabad's Sambhaji clinched the yellow metal in 25m standard pistol. Sambhaji's top finish also helped his teammates Gurmeet Singh and Rituraj Singh win the team gold. The 25m standard pis tol is not an Olympic sport.

India's Rushiraj Barot won 25m rapid fire gold in the ISSF Junior World Cup. (Tushar Dutt, Rushiraj shoots gold in Junior World Cup,Sep 21 2016 : The Times of India)

Rushiraj shot 25 in the final to win the top place. Rushiraj's medal helped India maintain the second spot with six gold and overall 18 medals, behind Russia's 10 gold and 21 total medals.

The Ahmedabad-born shooter won a World Cup gold; however, the field wasn't world class. There were only 10 shooters from four countries in the field. India had four shooters, while Thailand had three. Australia had two and Czech Republic one. In a way Rushiraj was lucky that the field met the minimum-participation criteria of the ISSF to be eligible for the medal. According to ISSF's rule number 3.8.2.1-2-3, “A minimum of 15 individuals in each of the men's and women's events or 10 individuals in men's and women's junior events must participate before individual medals can be awarded.”

Subhankar, Fateh Singh Dhillon and Ajay Nithish won the team silver in 50m prone rifle.

Lakshaya and Kismat Chopra and Manavaditya Singh Rathore bagged the team bronze in the Men’s Trap event.

Manavaditya, qualified for the individual Bronze medal match-up in the event, being part of two shoot-offs in the lead up, but had to be contended with fourth place eventually, coming second-best to Italy’s Matteo Marongiu.

Lakshaya and Kismat and Manavaditya bagged the team Bronze in the Men’s Trap when together they shot a total of 347 out of the possible 375 hits. Italy shot 360 to win Gold while Australia finished a point ahead of India to claim Silver.

Earlier both Manavaditya and Lakshaya were tied in fifth place, with two other shooters on a score of 118 at the end of the qualifying round of 125 shots each. Only six shooters qualify for the final rounds.

In the ensuing shoot-off Manavaditya and a Chinese shooter, Chengjiang Liu, were on target with their first two shots and qualified.

Lakshaya missed his second and the other Kazakh shooter, Nikolay Belskiy, missed his first, to be placed seventh and eighth respectively.

In the Semi-finals, Manavaditya was again tied with four others, including eventual Gold medalist, Australia’s Jack Wallace, to even have a shot at the Gold medal match.

Skeet

The Times of India, Apr 26 2016

Khan wins WC skeet medal

TusharDutt

After 12 days of disappointment in the ISSF World Cup in Rio, Mairaj Khan brought some joy to the Indians by winning a silver medal in the men's skeet competition, a first for the country. the country.

Mairaj, who became first Indian to win an Olympic quota in skeet, lost the gold to Sweden's Marcus Svensson in the final.

Mairaj, who who was shooting well found himself in trouble as he ran out of ammunition before his shoot-off for gold. He borrowed ammo from Greek shooter Nikolaos Mavrommatis, which gave the Indian a shot at gold, but at the same time took away the momentum he had got. Mavrommatis had finished 52nd in the qualification round. Mairaj, who qualified se cond for the semifinal after shooting 122. In the semifinal, the Indian was bang on target, shooting 15 out of 16 targets, and proceeded for the gold match with Svensson (15). In the gold-medal match, Mairaj and Marcus' scores were tied at 14 and the match went to the shoot-off (tie-breaker).

2017

Asian Championship, Wako City, Japan

17 medals by 3rd day

Jitu, Heena add two bronze to India’s kitty, December 11, 2017: The Times of India

Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu bagged a bronze each to continue India’s medal charge at the 10th Asian Championship 10m Rifle/Pistol in Wako City, Japan Sunday. Jitu won an individual bronze in the men’s 10m Air Pistol, which

also helped the Indian team comprising Shahzar Rizvi and Omkar Singh besides Jitu, to bag the Team gold in the event.

Heena claimed an individual bronze in the women's 10m Air Pistol. Her effort, along with teammates Shri Nivetha Paramantham and Harveen Srao, helped the Team clinch a silver.

India added another individual bronze through Anmol Jain in the junior men's 10M Air Pistol as well as the Team silver in the event, thanks to the combined exploits of Anmol, Gaurav Rana and Abhishek Arya.

Having won 11medalson thefirst two days of the competition, India's medal count stands at four gold, six silver and seven bronze for a total of 17 medalssofar. In the men’s 10m Air Pistol, itwas Shahzar Rizvi who topped qualification with a score of 583. He along with Jitu,, who shot 577 to finish fifth in qualifying, made it two Indians in the eight-man final.

The experienced Omkar Singh missed out, shooting 575 to finish 10th but enough to secure the Team gold for the troika.

Asian Shotgun championships, Astana

Tushar Dutt, Maheshwari shoots bronze in Asian meet , August 12, 2017: The Times of India

Maheshwari Chauhan tur ned the anxiety of compe ting in a senior event into excitement on Friday, clinching the bronze medal in skeet in the Asi an Shotgun cham pionships in Asta na, Kazakhstan.

Maheshwari, 21, shot 40 in the final for her first international medal in senior category . With this medal, Maheshwari became only the third Indian to win an international medal after Arti Singh Rao and Saniya Sheikh. Arti had won bronze at ISSF World Championships in 1999, gold in 2003 and bronze in 2000 in the World Cup apart from medals in various editions of Asian Clay Championships between 2000 and 2009. Saniya has an Asian Clay Championships bronze to her credit.

Maheshwari progressed to the knockouts by topping the qualification round with a score of 6875. However, it was always going to be a tough fight for the young Indian in the final as she was competing against seniors like Meng Wei of China and Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand. Meng was one of the finalists in the Rio Olympics, while Sutiya is a multiple World Cup medal winner.

In the final, Meng stood up to her reputation (World ranking 4) with a score of 55, while Sutiya (world ranking 5) shot 54.Rashmi Rathore, another Indian in the final, finished fourth with a score of 32 after she qualified by shooting 64. “It is my first senior medal. I was both excited and nervous before the match.

“Rather, I focused on one shot at a time,“ Maheshwari, who hails from Rajasthan and has been shooting for the last five years, told TOI from Almati.

India gets 8 medals

Mairaj-Rashmmi bags gold, August 14, 2017: The Times of India

India finished their campaign at the 7th Asian Championship Shotgun on high as the pair of Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Rashmmi Rathore bagged a gold medal in the skeet mixed team event on the concluding day.

The Indian duo eked out a narrow 28-27 win over the Chinese pair of Liu Jiangchi and Gao Jianmei in the gold-medal match. The host combination of Vladislav Mukhamediyev and Olga Panarina settled the bronze.

In an event billed as test event, Mairaj and Rashmmi qualified for the semifinals in fifth place out of 10 teams when they shot a combined score of 93. They scored the same as the silver winning Chinese pair, but came second (4-3) in a shoot-off. sIn the semi-final match, the Indians prevailed over the bronze-winning Kazakhstan team 28-27.

India finished the championship with a total of eight medals. Ankur Mittal had earlier won a gold in the men's double trap and had also helped India bag the team gold in the event. Kynan Chenai won a bronze in the men's trap and also partnered Shreyasi Singh to claim the trap mixed team bronze. Maheshwari Chauhan also clinched a bronze in the women's skeet, along with a team silver in the event before the men's skeet team picked up another bronze.

Commonwealth Shooting Championships

Tushar Dutt, CW SHOOTING - Heena wins 10m pistol gold; Deepak takes rifle bronze, November 1, 2017: The Times of India

Rizvi, Pooja shoot gold in Gold Coast, Nov 02 2017: The Times of India 

Indian pistol shooters ma de a clean sweep at the 10m air pistol podium as Shahzar Rizvi clinched gold, while Omkar Singh and Jitu Rai secured silver and bronze respectively in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

While Rizvi and Singh qualified for the final with modest scores of 581 and 576 respectively , even a low 571 was enough for Rai to qualify third. In the final, Rizvi was the strongest as he shot 240.7 to win the gold with a huge 4.7 point margin over Singh. Omkar scored 236 for silver, while Rai had to content with 214.1 for bronze.

In women's 10m air rifle event, Pooja Ghatkar rectified last week's disappointment at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi with a gold finish.Another Indian, Anjum Moudgil won silver, while Meghana Sajjanar finished fifth.

Pooja, who had finished ninth and failed to qualify for the final in the same event in Delhi, shot 415 to advance to the medal round. In the final, the shooter shot an impressive 249. 8 to clinch the yellow metal.

Heena Sidhu clinched gold in women's 10m air pistol event at the Commonwe alth Shooting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

Heena bagged the gold by shooting 240.8 in the final. This is Heena's second gold in 10 days.She had won the mixed event gold with Jitu Rai at the ISSF World Cup Finals in New Delhi. The Commonwealth championships is a trial event before the Commonwealth Games which will be held at the same venue next year. Heena qualified for the final after scoring 386 in the qualification round. Another Indian, Harveen Srao, who had qualified for the final after shooting 369, finished fourth in the final with 194.1.

“It is a challenging range as 50m and 10m ranges are integrated opposite each other in the same hall. There is external light and wind presence even in the final hall here, which is not usual. I had to take all the challenges in my stride without getting affected by it,“ Heena later told TOI.

Australia's Elina Galiabovitch (238.2) and Kristy Gillman (213.7) finished second and third respectively .

In men's 10m air rifle event, Deepak Kumar bagged bronze with a score of 224.2 in the final.Australians Alex Hobarg (247.6) and Jack Ros siter (245.5) clinched the gold and silver respectively.

London Games bronze medallist shooter Gagan Narang, who had made a comeback to the 10m event after a long gap, shot well too but he missed out on a medal after finishing fourth.Narang qualified for the final on top with a Commonwealth record score of 626.2, but a couple of 9s in the final cost him a medal. Ravi Kumar finished fifth with 182.2.

Narang wins 50m rifle prone silver

Narang wins silver in Commonwealth Shooting Championships, November 2, 2017: The Times of India

Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang made a stunning comeback to secure the silver medal in the 50m rifle prone event of the Commonwealth Shooting Championship.

Annu Raj Singh, who also made a comeback in the Indian team, had a good outing as she cruised her way to win the bronze medal in the women's 50m pistol competition.

The 2010 CWG gold medallist shot a total of 28 in the finals to finish third.

London Olympics bronze medallist Narang, who is appearing in his first major tournament since the 2016 Rio Olympics, shot a total of 617.6 in the qualification to end fourth. In the finals, he shot 246.3 to end just 1.4 points adrift the leader and settled for the second place.

"It was a very windy day and I had to dig deep. It was a test of my patience as I had to release my shots at the right time," the 2010 CWG Gold medal said.

Narang knows that there is a lot of work to be done ahead of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

"It was a test event for the Commonwealth Games next year and one of the things to test was the wind conditions and I did just that today. The final score still can be better and I know that I need to put in some more in that direction," he added.

India won a gold each in the men's 10m air pistol and women's 10m air rifle events, respectively, yesterday. On the first day of competition, Heena Sidhu clinched a gold medal in women's 10m air pistol event.

Nanjappa, Mittal win gold

Nanjappa, Mittal win gold, Nov 4, 2017: The Times of India

India took their gold medal count to five at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships with Prakash Nanjappa and double trap shooter Ankur Mittal clinching top honours in their respective events.

Nanjappa led an Indian cleansweep at the men's 50m pistol event with World Cup final bronze-medallist Amanpreet Singh winning silver and Jitu Rai fetching his second bronze of the competition.

Mittal added more glitter to his best ever international year with the double trap gold, while Shreyasi Singh bagged a silver in the women's double trap event to round off yet another successful day for India at the competition. India have so far won 15 medals at the ongoing championships.

Making a strong comeback in the eight-man final round, Nanjappa won the gold with a score of 222.4. It was Jitu, who topped the qualification round with a 559, while Amanpreet qualified third with 543 and Nanjappa in fourth with 542.

India win 20 medals in all

Shooters finish with big CW haul, Nov 7, 2017: The Times of India

India ended the Commonwealth Shooting Championships with a haul of 20 medals as Satyendra Singh and Sanjeev Rajput bagged gold and silver respectively in the mens 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions event on the concluding day of competitions.

The Indian squad won a total of six gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals after a week of competition. This included a gold and silver each in Shotgun events while the rest were from the Rifle and Pistol disciplines.

Chain Singh had also qualified for the eight-man final of the Rifle 3 Positions event. Satyendra qualified in second place with a total of 1162 with a best of 394 out of 400 in the Prone position. Veteran Sanjeev Rajput qualified in third place with 1158 while Chain was fourth with the same score but with lesser inner 10s.

In the final though, Satyendra was quickest off the blocks while Sanjeev chased him close throughout the length of the 45-shot final.

Satyendra eventually prevailed, finishing with 454.2 to Sanjeev's 453.3. Chain Singh was in third place in the initial stages of the final, raising hopes of an Indian clean sweep. But he was eventually overtaken by Australian Dane Sampson, after the 12th shot.Sampson held on to secure the bronze medal. In the men's trap event at the shotgun ranges, Birendeep Sodhi was the lone Indian to qualify. He shot 118 out of 125 to qualify in fifth place and eventually finished fourth.

ISSF World Cup

Jitu-Heena pair wins gold in WC, June 13, 2017: The Times of India

India's Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu combined to clinch the gold medal in mixed team 10m air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup, beating Russia 7-6 in the final.

Earlier, on day four of the competitions at the riflepistol World Cup, both Jitu and Heena narrowly missed out on making the final of the individual men's and women's 10m air pistol event, finishing 12th and 9th in their respective qualification rounds. Only the top eight make it through to the final. Although the mixed team events are not being considered for the medal tally at the World Cup stage this year, they have been approved as medal events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The win augurs well for the Indian pair as this was its second World Cup gold together, having won the event in the New Delhi stage in 2017.

ISSF Shotgun World Cup, Mittal wins WC gold, equals world record

Tushar Dutt, Mittal wins WC gold, equals world record, March 24, 2017: The Times of India

Ankur Mittal gifted himself a birthday gift in advance by winning the World Cup double trap gold with a world-record equaling score to boot. His birthday falls on March 30.

Ankur, who was born in Sonipat and lives in Delhi, clinched the gold at the ongoing ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Acapulco. Ankur shot a score of 75 in the final to equal the world record created by Australia's James Willet in the New Delhi edition of the competition. The record is fresh since International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has implemented new rules from January 1, 2017

Willet, who scored 73 in the 80-shot final, won the silver while the bronze went to China's Ying Qi, who shot 52.

“This has to be a special medal for me. It pays for the hard work that has been done in the last seven years. I am glad it came before I turn 25,“ the shooter told TOI.

Asked how much the medal means to him since it has come at a time when double trap is on its way out from the Olympics programme, he said, “The medal is still special. Also, the ISSF will have a final meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the coming months, so hope the decision is changed and double trap stays in the programme.“

But if it doesn't, Ankur will gradually move to skeet or trap. “We have Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year. I will conti nue to shoot double trap till then and may be post the meets, I will shift either to skeet or trap. I haven't decided yet,“ he added.

This is the second World Cup medal for Ankur. His first came in February when he shot 74 in the final in New Delhi to come second behind Willet.

The Indian qualified second for the final on Wednesday , after bettering Chinese Ying in the classification shootoff. Both Ankur and Ying had scored 138150 in the qualification round. Top six shooters make it to the final, where the qualification scores are not carried forward and the final starts from zero. In the final, Ankur could have broken the world record had he not missed a bird in the last 10 shots. Nonetheless, it was sufficient for him to top the podium.

World Cup

Biswajyoti Brahma, Indian shooting takes bold step after debacle in Rio, March 4, 2017: The Times of India

It was a successful World Cup for India by all accounts, despite finishing way behind table toppers China.

The hosts bagged five medals, including one gold, to secure the fifth position in the medals tally; China had 12 medals -six gold and six silver. But what's positive about India's performance is that 15 of the 45 shooters made it to the finals in different events to win those five medals.

The numbers are impressive since Indian shooting is in a rebuilding process following the Rio Olympic debacle leass than a year back. Many established names were replaced by relatively new ones for the event and the squad returned with one of the best medal hauls for India in a World Cup. Leading the charge was Jitu Rai, the diminutive army man, who bagged two medals, including a gold, in pistol shooting. Indians tasted success across the formats -they had 6 shooters in rifle event finals, 5 in pistol finals and four in shot gun finals. Pistol shooter won most medals -3-while rifle and shot gun shooters won one each. Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu also won the gold in 10m air pistol mixed gender team event, though the medal wasn't added to the table since it was conducted as a test event.

Pooja Ghatkar set the tone for the hosts with a bronze in women's 10m air rifle on the opening day of the competition. Mentored by Olympic medallist Gagan Narang, Pooja finished ahead of the likes of Najmeh Khedmati, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist from Iran.

Ankur Mittal sizzled in double trap, an event in which India won their first ever medal in shooting -a silver in 2004 Athens Games through Rajyavarshan Singh Rathore.Mittal finished second, just one point behind winner James Willett. Jitu Rai came back from a disappointing Olympics to the win two medals -a gold and a bronze. Amanpreet Singh's silver in 50m pistol behind Jitu made it sweeter. This was Amanpreet's first international event in over three years.

Sheeraz Sheikh's qualification for skeet signalled the slow but steady growth of the country in the event which was considered India's weak spot just two years back. There were some heartbreaks too. Zoravar Singh Sandhu was within striking distance of a medal in men's trap but a lapse in concentration saw him miss the bronze by a whisker.

National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh said he was happy with the performance of the team and expected them to do better in coming events. “I have no regrets about the performance. If I have any regrets it has to be women's 25m pistol event. We don't seem to be doing well there,“ Raninder said.

He said that India has sone well as far as performance in skeet is concerned. “We have improved in the last one and half year since we appointed Ennio Falco as coach of skeet team. But still we have a long way to go.“

Though Heena Sidhu failed to win a medal, the NRAI president felt she was going to be a key member of the squad considering that mixed gender event will be a medal event from October. “She shot very well in the mixed event final.“

Mixed bronze for Bajwa, American Dunn

Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Haley Dunn of the US won the mixed team skeet medal at the ISSF World Cup on Friday . Angad and Haley beat the pairing of Robert Johnson and Caitlin Connor 28-26 in the bronze medal match of the test event. Hayden Stewart, partnering Kimberly Rhode of the US, won the gold defeating Argentine siblings Federico and Melisa Gill 29-26 in final.

World Shotgun Championship: Ankur wins silver

Marksman Mittal makes merry with shotgun silver, Sep 6, 2017: The Times of India

Rizvi Shines in Juniors' Double Trap, Helps India Clinch Gold in Team Event

Ankur Mittal won the silver medal in the double trap event of the World Shotgun Championship at the Fox Lodge Shooting Range in Moscow. In the process, Mittal became only the fourth Indian shotgun shooter to win an individual medal at the senior level of a World Championship after Dr Karni Singh, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Manavjit Singh Sandhu.Rathore, who has taken charge as the Union sports minister, tweeted as soon as he got the news: “Congrats Ankur Mittal for the silver in double trap at @ISSF Shooting Shotgun WC! Your best is yet to come :) Splendid performance!“ This has been a phenomenal year for the 25-year-old, who went to Moscow with a kitty of two gold medals and a silver medal in top international competitions this year.He has set himself up for nicely for the ISSF World Cup Finals slated to be held in New Delhi in October. An kur, after shooting brilliantly through the day ­ topped qualifying with 145150 ­ and through the 80-shot final, narrowly lost out in the end to Russia's Vitaly Fokeev. The Russian, who was the the world champion in 2006, took the crown with 68 points to Ankur's 66. Among other Indians, Sangram Dahiya ended in 20th place with 135, while Md Asab came in 23rd with 133 hits in the qualifying round. The trio combined for the fifth spot in team category with 413 points.

In the junior men's event, India's Shardul Vihan and Ahvar Rizvi topped qualifying to get into the top six.Shardul shot 139 to be the sole leader of the pack. Ahvar shot 138 and then topped a three-way shoot-off to determine positions, to qualify for the finals in second place. India won the gold medal in the team event with Rizvi, Vihan and Shapath Bhradwaj's putting up a tally of 401.

In the individual final, Ahvar carried his shoot-off momentum and shot brilliantly to lead till the end, but lost the gold in the last two targets to Briton James Dedman.Ahvar finished with 66 out of 80 targets, a point behind Dedman.