ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol Day 5: India Shoots No New Medal

Day 5 of the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol 2025 in Cairo, Egypt, delivered a moment of pause for the high-flying Indian contingent as the medal-winning streak in the Olympic discipline events came to a temporary halt. The most anticipated event of the day, the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) final, concluded without an Indian shooter reaching the crucial final round or the podium.

This result marked the first individual final in an Olympic discipline at the championships that did not feature an Indian representative.

Despite the collective success of the previous four days, where India had amassed an impressive 11 medals, the challenging conditions and razor-thin margins of elite competition proved too tough to overcome. The Indian rifle shooters, including several established international medallists, found themselves just shy of the extremely competitive cut-off scores needed to advance from the crowded qualification field.

The primary focus of the day was the highly demanding Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions. India fielded a capable squad, yet ultimately, the scores were not enough to break into the top eight.

Ashi Chouksey was the best-placed Indian shooter in the qualification round, finishing in 15th position with a score of 588. Crucially, she missed the eighth and final qualifying spot by the narrowest of margins, just one single point underscoring how close she was to continuing India's streak.

Following closely behind was Olympian Anjum Moudgil, who finished in 17th position after posting a qualification score of 587. The third Indian in the field, Asian Games champion and current world record holder Sift Kaur Samra, finished further back in 48th place with a score of 580.

The final itself was won by Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad, her second individual world title of the competition, with Switzerland’s Emely Jaeggi taking silver and Great Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh securing the bronze.

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Focus Shifts to Pistol as India Retains Second Place at ISSF World Championship

Despite drawing a blank on Day 5, the earlier heroics such as Samrat Rana's historic gold and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar's world record-equalling silver ensured that India firmly retained second place in the overall medal standings. The total medal count remains at 11 (three gold, five silver, and three bronze), trailing only the People's Republic of China, which continues to lead the championships.

The Indian team will now look to reignite their medal momentum as the focus shifts to the Women's 25m Sports Pistol event. This discipline will see two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and World Cup winners Esha Singh and Rahi Sarnobat begin the precision stage.