For Niraj, silver is worth its weight in gold as he eyes TOPS

New Delhi: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar demonstrated his experience in the final, firing a brilliant 10.7 on his last shot to narrowly defeat teammate Niraj Kumar and claim gold in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. India completed a clean sweep of the podium, with Akhil Sheoran taking bronze at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship, New Delhi 2026, currently underway at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Niraj Kumar, competing for his first individual international medal, held a slim 0.2-point advantage over Aishwary heading into the 35th and deciding shot. Shooting first, Niraj registered a 10.3, setting Aishwary a target of 10.6 for gold. The World Championship silver medallist kept his composure and delivered an outstanding 10.7 to overtake Niraj and seal the title. Aishwary finished with a total score of 362.0, while Niraj secured silver with 361.8. Akhil Sheoran claimed bronze with 343.5.

Despite being pipped to silver, this is a massive achievement for Niraj who is looking to get back into TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme). He was removed from TOPS in January 2025 and that has denied him access to quality ammunition for practice.

"I have done well in recent times. This double haul (silver in individual and gold in team) as well as other recent performances should help return to TOPS," said the 26-year-old Niraj, who also did well in the National trials recently.

"The ammunition I am provided by my employers Indian Navy is very old and outdated. It is from 2019 batch. I cannot buy is personally, because it is too expensive. So I would love to get back to TOPS. These performances will help," added the Navyman.

In the junior men’s finals Adriyan Karmakar secured his second gold medal of the championship with a comfortable victory, shooting a score of 353.2, which was 4.7 more than silver medallist Dmitriy Kim of Kazakhstan. India’s Manvendra Singh Shekhawat won bronze with a final score of 338.6

Earlier in qualification, Niraj Kumar qualified for the finals in first place with a score of 593-34x followed by Aishwary (588-40x) and Akhil (588-32x). 10m Air Rifle gold medallist, Rudrankksh Patil hit 591-33x which was the second-best score in qualification, but he was only shooting for ranking points. Nikhil Tanwar who was also shooting for Ranking Points, scored 587-29x. The trio of Aishwary, Niraj and Akhil also won the team gold with Japan and Kazakhstan winning the silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the junior finals, Adriyan clinched gold comfortably, showing his class in the eight men field. He did not lead the finals just once, after the first five kneeling series. After taking the lead from the sixth shot in the finals, Adriyan maintained his huge lead and completed his second gold medal in the championship. Manvendra Singh Shekhawat won bronze after shooting 338.6. The third Indian in the final, Hemant Burman finished in fifth place going down in a shoot-off.

Tags : Aishwary Pratap Singh, Niraj Kumar, Akhil Sheoran, Adriyan Karmakar, Shooting, Asian Championship, Rifle, Pistol