Niraj shoots to glory in men’s rifle 50m 3-position

Haryana’s Suruchi Phogat and Parmod won the 10m Air Pistol mixed team gold in the 38th National Games at Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun on Thursday, 06 February 2025. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

With Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale and another Paris Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar beside him, Niraj Kumar should have felt a shiver as he lined up for the men’s rifle 50m 3-position final in the 38^th National Games’ shooting competition here on Thursday. But that was not the situation.

“I was just acting like a robot, just following my process and gave my best in every shot,” the 25-year-old Niraj told The Hindu after surprising the Olympians to win the gold.

“There was nothing in my mind because every athlete in the final is of the same level, whoever has better control over his mind will win the title.”

Niraj, from Hoshiarpur in Punjab and representing Services here as he is with the Indian Navy, was calm and collected as he led almost all through the kneeling, prone and standing events to take the gold beating Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap 464.1-462.4. Aishwary took the silver while Swapnil (447.7) finished with a bronze.

“My preparation was not up to the mark, I was busy with other things…that is why I was a bit worried,” said the Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil after the event.

Meanwhile Haryana’s Suruchi Phogat, who finished with an empty bag at the last Games in Goa in 2023, paired up with Parmod and won the 10m air pistol mixed team gold brushing aside Rajasthan’s Anjali Shekhawat and Umesh Choudhary 17-7 in the title clash. That brought the 18-year-old her second gold here and saw her emerge as the shooting star of these National Games.

“Actually, I was not in form today. I thought my first gold came easier,” said Suruchi.

Maharashtra’s Arvind Patil and Olympian Rahi Sarnobat crushed host Uttarakhand’s Abhinav Deshwal and Yashsavi Joshi 17-3 for the bronze.

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