In a quality field, Nancy Mandhotra wins 10m air rifle silver

On Friday, just before she took her position in the lane for the women’s 10m air rifle final at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, 19-year-old Haryana shooter Nancy Mandhotra found herself wondering how many Chinese shooters were in the fray.
The teenager’s trepidation was warranted. She was part of a loaded field that had three shooters from China, besides reigning women’s 50m 3P Olympic champion and 10m air rifle bronze medall Nina Chren and Tokyo Olympics fourth-place shooter Jeannete Duestad.
But when the action began, all those big reputations counted for little as the Indian claimed silver with a score of 253.3. Only China’s Han Jiayu was better than her on the day, while Huang Yuting and Wang Zhilin were third and fourth.

🇮🇳’s Nancy as she bags 🥈at #ISSFWorldCup, Baku🔫The 19-year-old 🇮🇳 shooter had come 8⃣th Qualification Round but after an exceptional performance in the Finals, grabbed the 🥈 in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event 🥳
Well done Nancy! Many congratulations👏🥳 pic.twitter.com/PEl1Bm1ury
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) May 12, 2023
“It was a very competitive qualification series. To qualify at the eight spot with such a high score meant that Nancy was in good confidence going into the final. Initially, she was a bit nervous thinking about the Chinese, but once she found her rhythm, she was the one who made the Chinese shooters tense. It was a bit unlucky that she could not match or get past Han in the final two shots but then it’s a gold medal performance for us,” said Suma Shirur, the national air rifle chief coach.
There was more reason to celebrate for Nancy on Friday. She had passed her Standard XII exams with 62 percent marks.
“Once I was in my groove, I was only concentrating on my shots. To win a medal in a final consing of the Olympic medall and three Chinese shooters is one of the special gifts to my parents. When I talked with them after the medal ceremony, I asked them about my marks first but they said my medal is the biggest achievement for them,” the youngster said.
Rising from a fall
Nancy’s tryst with shooting started when she had a fall at her home in Kurukshetra.
“Nancy fell on the ramp of our home, which resulted in a back injury in 2018. We spent months visiting doctors in Chandigarh. During one of her PT sessions in the school, the principal asked her why she was missing the session. On knowing of her back problem, she suggested Nancy try shooting practice,” her father Azad Singh recollected.
Starting the sport was an expensive proposition. The family owned ten acres of land in the village of Panghala near Karnal. But they moved to Kurukshetra so that the four children could get a decent education. The rent for the house in the city itself was Rs 10,000 per month. So Azad asked his wife Pramila Devi to mortgage her gold jewellery at a finance company to get their daughter her first rifle worth Rs 2.5 lakh.

Second silver🥈 of the day as #Nancy shoots 253.3 in the women’s 10m air rifle to finish behind China’s Han Jiayu who shot 254.0. Excellent shooting this👏🔥🇮🇳@Media_SAI @DeoKalikesh #TeamIndia #ISSFWorldCup #Shooting #IndiaShooting #Rifle #Baku #India pic.twitter.com/p7kpeJah5k
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) May 12, 2023
The youngster joined the Karan Shooting Academy under coach Jagbir Singh. “She never missed training and would ask her father or elder brother to drop her to the academy six kms away be it rain or foggy weather. We got her another rifle this year worth Rs 3.5 lakh taking another loan. But that’s nothing as compared to her passion,” said Pramila.
Nancy soon made it to the Indian junior team in 2020 and was part of the bronze medal-winning junior Indian mixed team in the World Championship in Cairo last year. In the Asian Airgun Championship in Korea, she won the individual silver medal as well mixed team silver apart from junior team gold medal.
Having won the medal, the youngster now has to prepare for her political science exam, which she had missed due to the selection trials in March.
“When we tell people in our village that our daughter shoots, most of the elders think that Nancy works as an actor in movies. This time, we will show them the rifle. And her medal too!” beamed Azad.