Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar held his nerve in dramatic fashion to clinch gold in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, spearheading an Indian clean sweep at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship, New Delhi 2026, at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
In a tense finish, Aishwary edged past teammate Niraj Kumar with a stunning final shot of 10.7. Heading into the 35th and last shot of the final, Niraj led by a slender margin of 0.2 points.
Shooting first, Niraj registered a 10.3, setting Aishwary a target of 10.6 to claim gold. The World Championship silver medallist rose to the occasion, delivering a superb 10.7 to leapfrog Niraj and seal the top spot with a total of 362.0. Niraj finished just behind at 361.8, earning his first individual international medal, while Akhil Sheoran completed the podium with bronze at 343.5.
Earlier in qualification, Niraj had topped the standings with an impressive 593-34x, followed by Aishwary (588-40x) and Akhil (588-32x). Although 10m Air Rifle gold medallist Rudrankksh Patil posted the second-best qualification score of 591-33x, he was competing for ranking points only.
Nikhil Tanwar, also shooting for ranking points, scored 587-29x. The trio of Aishwary, Niraj and Akhil combined to secure team gold for India, with Japan and Kazakhstan taking silver and bronze, respectively.
India’s dominance extended to the junior men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions final, where Adriyan Karmakar clinched his second gold medal of the championship. He shot 353.2 to finish 4.7 points ahead of Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Kim, who took silver. Manvendra Singh Shekhawat added another medal to India’s tally with bronze at 338.6.
Adriyan displayed remarkable consistency throughout the final. After briefly trailing in the early kneeling series, he seized the lead from the sixth shot and maintained control for the remainder of the contest. The third Indian finalist, Hemant Burman, finished fifth after bowing out in a shoot-off.
The Asian Shooting Championship concludes on Friday, with medals to be decided in the women’s 50m Rifle Prone and men’s 25m Centre Fire Pistol events.