Asian Shooting: Aishwary Tomar outguns Niraj Kumar in game of fine margins

NEW DELHI: When Aishwary Tomar took the last shot in the 50m men’s Rifle 3 Position final, he was fractionally behind Niraj Kumar. Just 0.2 points separated the two at the top, effectively making the final shot the decider for the gold medal. Tomar kept his calm and banked on his experience to fire a 10.7 compared to Niraj’s 10.3, securing the top place by the finest of margins.

The scenario at the Asian Rifle and Pistol Championships here was not new for Tomar. He was in the exact same situation during the 2025 Cairo Worlds final, only then, his role was reversed. Heading into the final shot in November, it was the 25-year-old Indian who was leading by 0.1 points against Yikun Liu of China. He wilted under pressure and hit 9.8 compared to the Chinese’s 10.1 to lose the gold by 0.2 points. “It still hurts. You come so far and don’t become world champion. That takes time to process,” Aishwary reflected after India took all three medals on Thursday.



Aishwary bagged the gold at 362.0, a world record in an event in which the final was contested in a recently introduced format. Niraj settled for silver with 361.8, while Akhil Sheoran, who was eliminated before the final shot, won the bronze with 343.5. India also claimed the team gold with Japan and Kazakhstan winning silver and bronze respectively.

Aishwary said he was under pressure to overtake the leader. “When you are behind, you have to shoot very well to catch up, so the pressure is high,” he said, “There are many matches where Niraj and I are left till the end. We are learning how to handle that.”

Niraj said he gave his all in the shot. “I gave my best. My position was stable and everything felt right. I can’t really explain why I lost. Because of that, I got silver. But I thought it was a good shot. But I will still say that I need to work 200 per cent harder to handle pressure situations,” the 26-year-old tried to explain the situation. Aishwary said that though he was disappointed about missing out on world championship gold, the silver gave him much-needed confidence. “Before that, I didn’t have a medal at the Worlds. After winning it, I felt we could win at that level. It’s equivalent to the Olympics. If you lose, you can use it as motivation — to go one step further in the next Worlds.”

TOPS support can help me do better: Niraj

Niraj hopes that his show at the Asian Championship would help him return to sports ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Niraj said he stopped receiving benefits last year. “My performance was good last year too, but I was removed from the TOPS team. I don’t get government support anymore. I’m struggling.,” he said. “I used old ammunition from the Navy. That caused a lot of problems in training.”


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