New Delhi, February 12 Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, the silver medallist in the World Championship, defeated his teammate Niraj Kumar to win gold, setting a world record, as India dominated the 50m rifle 3-positions event on the penultimate day of the Asian Championship here on Thursday.
Aishwary, who concluded the year 2025 on a high by winning gold at the Asian Championship, along with silver medals at the World Championships and the World Cup Finals, carried this momentum into the new year.
He scored a world record of 362, edging out Niraj by just 0.2 points.
Aishwary secured his victory with a superb score of 10.7 in his final shot, finishing with a total of 362.
Niraj settled for silver with a score of 361.8, while Akhil Sheoran claimed bronze with a score of 343.5 at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.
For Niraj, it was a bittersweet moment, as he came agonizingly close to winning gold but had to settle for silver, even as he celebrated his first individual international medal.
The competition went down to the 35th and final shot, highlighting just how tight the battle for the top spot had been.
Niraj fired first, scoring 10.3, giving Aishwary a target of 10.6 to win the gold.
Olympian Aishwary held his nerve and scored a superb 10.7 to overtake Niraj and secure the gold.
Earlier, Niraj had topped the qualification round with a score of 593, while Aishwary finished second with 588, and Sheoran placed third with an identical score of 588.
The trio of Niraj, Aishwary, and Sheoran totalled 1769 to win the team gold, followed by Japan (1754) and Kazakhstan (1748).
In the junior men's final, Adriyan Karmakar secured his second gold medal of the championship with a comfortable victory, shooting a score of 353.2, which was 4.7 more than silver medallist Dmitriy Kim of Kazakhstan.
India's Manvendra Singh Shekhawat won bronze with a final score of 338.6.
The third Indian in the final, Hemant Burman, finished in fifth place after a shoot-off.
The championship will conclude on Saturday with the medals in women's 50m rifle prone and men's 25m centre-fire pistol to be decided.
