India win men’s 50 m rifle 3 positions team bronze at World Championship, one point short of silver

One point kept India from silver. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Akhil Sheoran and Niraj Kumar won the men’s 50 m rifle 3 positions team bronze at the ISSF World Championship in Doha on Tuesday, 10 November, with a combined 1751. Czechia took the gold with 1754 and Norway the silver with 1752.

France were fourth on 1749 in a field of 20 teams. China, who hold the team world record of 1777, finished eighth with 1738.

Tomar carried the Indian score with 587 out of 600: 198 in the kneeling position, 195 prone and 194 standing, after opening with a perfect 100 in his first kneeling series. Across the two elimination relays only China’s Zhang Changhong, with 588, scored more. Italy’s Michele Bernardi also shot 587 and was placed above Tomar on inner tens, 35 to 33. Sheoran and Kumar added 582 each. Sheoran was 13th in the first relay and Kumar seventh in the second.

The official score sheet shows where the gold went. India out-shot Czechia in kneeling, 588 to 587, but gave up three points in prone, 587 to 590, and one more in standing, 576 to 577. Norway were a point better than India in both kneeling and prone, and a point worse in standing.

Three Indians in the individual event

Team medals were decided on the elimination scores. All three Indians are also among the 60 shooters in the individual qualification on Wednesday, 11 November, which begins at 11.45 am IST. The top eight move to the final at 3.30 pm IST. There, the three highest-placed eligible shooters each secure their country a quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, with no country allowed more than one in an event.

The bronze is India’s ninth medal in Doha. With two gold, five silver and two bronze, India are second on the medal table published by the ISSF, behind China’s 26. Earlier on Tuesday, Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Divya Subbaraju won the women’s 25 m pistol team gold.

Trap: two Indians one target off the lead

In trap, where qualification runs over three days, Udaivir Singh Jaijee and Vivaan Kapoor each broke 49 of 50 targets on the opening day and share ninth place, one behind three shooters on a perfect 50. Zoravar Singh Sandhu has 43. Among the women, Pragati Dubey is 18th with 46, Manisha Keer has 43 and Neeru 39. Fifty more targets follow on Wednesday, and both trap finals are on Thursday, 12 November.