World University Games: Indian shooter Sift Kaur Samra bags two gold medals

The 21-year-old Samra beat out fellow countrywoman Ashi Chouksey for the gold with a score of 462.9 in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final

Chengdu: Indian shooters, led by Sift Kaur Samra, won four medals – two gold, one silver and one bronze – at the ongoing FISU World University Games 2023 in Chengdu, the People’s Republic of China, on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old Samra, who had previously won the ISSF Junior World Cup, beat out fellow countrywoman Ashi Chouksey for the gold with a score of 462.9 in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions final.

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To win silver, Chouksey scored 461.6 points while seated, lying flat, and standing. Zeru Wang of China earned bronze with 451.1 total points. Manini Kaushik of India, who also qualified for the eight-woman final, was the first to be eliminated.

But Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Coukshey, and Manini Kaushik took home the gold in the women’s 50m rifle three positions team event with a score of 3527, two more than China, who took home the silver. With 3501 points, the Czech Republic took home the bronze.

In the 10m air pistol, Varun Tomar advanced to the eight-man final but finished seventh with a score of 136.2. Arjun Singh Cheema and Anmol Jain failed to get past the qualifying round.

In the men’s team 10m air pistol competition, the Indian trio combined for 1730 points, earning bronze. With 1742 points, the Republic of Korea’s men’s team in the 10m air pistol took home the gold medal. China scored 1742 points as well, but had 61x as opposed to Korea’s 67.

Manu Bhaker, who earlier in the competition won gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event, placed ninth in the women’s 25m pistol qualifying round and failed to advance to the final. Chinki Yadav and Abhidnya Patil placed eleventh and eighteenth, respectively.

The four medals on Tuesday took India’s tally at FISU World University Games 2023 to 21 – 11 gold, four silver and six bronze. India are fourth on the medals table behind China, Korea and Japan.