Sift Kaur Samra wins stunning gold medal at Shooting World Cup
It was a late Friday night to remember for Indian shooting as Sift Kaur Samra pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory in the women’s 50m Rifle 3-Positions (3P) final at the Tiro Federal Argentino de Buenos Aires shooting range. It was her first individual ISSF World Cup gold and also India’s first gold of the season-opener in Argentina. After 15-shots in the first Kneeling position, Sift was stage 7.2 points behind Anita Mangold of Germany and eventual silver medal, but staged a dream comeback in the second Prone and final Standing positions to win a canter in the end. She eventually finished with 458.6 at the end of the 45-shot final, while Mangold ended 3.3 behind on 455.3. Junior World Championship medal Arina Altukhova of Kazakhstan was third, bowing out after the 44th shot with a tally of 445.9.
Sensational Sift
Sift qualified for the final in top spot with a strong 590, when the likes of reigning Olympic champion Chiara Leone and the previous Olympic champion Nina Chren, both from Switzerland, could not make the top eight. A host of Olympic medals like Alexandria Le of Kazakhstan and Mary Tucker of the US, also could not cross the qualifying hurdle. Sift could not penetrate the 10-ring to begin with and ended the Kneeling position almost out of reckoning. She then found her rhythm in her favourite Prone position and the end of it, brought the gap down with the leader, now Nele Stark, to about 4.3, but still remained in eighth place.
A classy 52.3 in the first series of five Standing shots when all struggled, saw her shoot-up to joint third and she never looked back from there. A steady second series of 51.2 saw her take the lead for the first time and as the leaderboard shuffled furiously below her, she finished with scores of 10.5, 10.3, 10.5,10.0 and 9.7 for a clinical performance. It was a strong start to the season for Sift, who had endured a forgettable Paris Olympics campaign despite being a contender for a medal.
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After missing out on medals in the first final on competition day one, India have now ended competition day two in second spot on the standings with one gold and a bronze, won earlier in the men’s 3P Chain Singh. China are on top with a gold and a silver each.
Also read: How Journeyman Chain Singh pipped young guns at the Shooting World Cup for a long-awaited bronze
Three finals on Super Saturday
Saturday has three big finals on the card with the first, the women’s 25m pol, slated for 7.30pm Indian Standard Time (). That will be followed the women’s skeet (11pm ) and men’s skeet finals (00.30am – Apr 06, 2025)
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