FISU World University Games 2023: Indian shooter Sift Kaur Samra bags two gold medals
Sift Kaur Samra pipped Ashi Chouksey in the women’s 50m rifle 3P final. Varun Tomar, Arjun Singh Cheema and Anmol Jain won bronze in the men’s 10m air pistol team event.
Indian shooters, led by Sift Kaur Samra, won four medals - two gold, one silver and one bronze - at the FISU World University Games 2023 in Chengdu, the People’s Republic of China, on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Sift Kaur Samra, who won the ISSF Junior World Cup last year, scored 462.9 in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions final to pip compatriot Ashi Chouksey for gold.
Ashi Chouksey managed 461.6 points across kneeling, prone and standing positions to settle for silver. China’s Zeru Wang clinched bronze with 451.1 points. India’s Manini Kaushik also made the cut for the eight-woman final but was the first to get eliminated.
Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Coukshey and Manini Kaushik, however, won a gold medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event by scoring 3527 points - two more than silver medallists China. The Czech Republic claimed bronze with 3501 points.
In the 10m air pistol, Varun Tomar made it to the eight-man final but scored 136.2 to finish seventh. Arjun Singh Cheema and Anmol Jain failed to get past the qualifying round.
The Indian trio combined in the 10m air pistol men’s team event to claim a bronze with 1730 points. The Republic of Korea won gold in the 10m air pistol men’s team with 1742 points. China also scored 1742 but had 61x compared to Korea’s 67.
Manu Bhaker, who won gold in women’s 10m air pistol earlier in the competition, finished ninth in the women’s 25m pistol qualifying round and did not make the final. Abhidnya Patil and Chinki Yadav came 11th and 18th, respectively.
In the women’s 25m pistol team event, Manu Bhaker, Abhidnya Patil and Chinki Yadav finished fourth with 1711 points. China (1735 points), Korea (1729) and Iran (1727) claimed the podium in respective order.
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.
Close to 230 Indian athletes are competing at the Chengdu meet. The World University Games, which is held biennially, is one of the largest multi-sport events in the world. It will conclude on August 8.