Shooting
ISSF World Cup Munich: Sift Kaur Samra secures bronze in 50m Rifle 3 Positions
World record holder adds another medal to her collection with commanding performance in challenging field.
Sift Kaur Samra wins the Selection Trials-3 in women's 50m rifle three positions. (Photo Credits: NRAI)
Sift Kaur Samra continued India's medal surge at the ISSF World Cup in Munich by claiming bronze in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event on Thursday. The 23-year-old demonstrated her class against a competitive field, finishing with a score of 453.1 in the eight-player final.
Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad dominated the competition to claim gold with an impressive 466.9, while Switzerland's Emely Jaeggi secured silver with 464.8, making it a closely contested podium finish.
Samra, who currently holds the world record in this discipline with her stellar performance at the 2022 Asian Games, where she claimed gold, showed remarkable composure throughout the final. The Indian ace maintained her position in medal contention throughout the elimination rounds.
The Indian shooter, fresh from her gold medal triumph in Buenos Aires earlier this year, found herself outside medal contention after the kneeling and prone stages, positioned fourth heading into the standing eliminations. However, she capitalized on her strongest discipline - the standing position - to surge into the bronze medal spot and maintained that position through the subsequent elimination rounds.
In the qualification round, Samra secured her place in the final with a second-place finish, recording a solid 592 points.
Duestad's gold medal performance was particularly noteworthy as she maintained consistency across all three positions to edge out the field by more than two points. Jaeggi's silver medal effort kept the Norwegian honest until the final shots, while Samra's bronze ensured India maintained their strong showing at the Munich venue.
