Sensational Sift Kaur Samra shoots first gold for India in ISSF World Cup

Indian shooters are back in business at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires with pulling off a stunning come-from-behind win in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) final to give India their first gold late on Friday evening.

After missing out on medals on first day of the competition, the strong Indian contingent comprising of — a double medallist at the — are now in second spot on the standings with one gold and a bronze, won earlier in the men’s 3P by Chain Singh. China are on top with a gold and a silver each.

Samra, a world-record holder and part of the Indian contingent in Paris, was a huge 7.2 behind Anita Mangold of Germany, the leader at that stage and eventual silver medallist after 15 shots in the first kneeling position. However, the 23-year-old Punjab girl staged a dream comeback in the second prone and final standing positions to win by 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 medallist Arina Altukhova of Kazakhstan was third, bowing out after the 44th shot with a tally of 445.9.

The first two pictures are good enough to suggest the greatness of this performance by Sift Kaur Samra .Down and out after kneeling but rose from the ashes like a pheonix to clinch the Gold 🥇 medal for India 🇮🇳 with a score of 458.6.
Absolute clutch 🔥🔥🔥. Congratulations 👏. pic.twitter.com/gmZesRwv6D

— Antik Basu (@AntikBasu80384) April 4, 2025

Earlier, Asian Games medallist Chain Singh helped India earn their first medal of the competition, winning bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P).

Strong field

It was a tough campaign for Samra who did extremely well to qualify in top spot with a strong 590 when the likes of reigning Olympic champion Chiara Leone and the previous Olympic champion Nina Christen, both of Switzerland, could not make the top eight. A host of Olympic medallists like Alexandria Le of Kazakhstan and Mary Tucker of the US, also could not cross the qualifying hurdle.

The finals field was a formidable one as it included Cairo 2022 world champion Miao Wanru of China, Miao’s compatriot and junior air rifle world champion Zifei Wang and a highly rated Swiss 16-year-old Emely Jaeggi, besides Altukhova.

Samra 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 by 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.