Consecutive golds at the age of 22, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, India's new shooting sensation

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar is a name that has become synonymous with shooting excellence in India. Born on 3rd February 2001, in the Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, Aishwary is a young shooting prodigy who has brought laurels to the country by winning gold in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions at the ISSF World Cup 2023 in Cairo. This was Aishwary's second shooting World Cup gold medal. At the age of 22, he has become India's new shooting sensation.

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Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who also won a gold medal at the Changwon World Cup last year, registered a comfortable 16-2 victory over Alexander Schmirl of Austria in the final. With this gold, India continued its dominance in the ISSF Shooting World Cup on Wednesday. India has so far won six medals including four gold in this competition and has consolidated its position at the top of the medals tally.

The gold medal match between Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Schmirl saw a close contest early on. At one point the score was tied at 4-4 and then at 6-6. The Indian player, however, showed excellent play after that and won the gold medal.

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 400 6.4 to finish second in the ranking round, while Schmirl finished first with 407.9. Earlier, the Indian shooter had shot 588 to finish first in the qualifying round. Akhil Sheoran, another Indian competing in the event, finished second in the qualification with a score of 587.

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot 20 each in the kneeling, prone, and standing positions in the qualification round with a score of 588 to make it to the ranking round along with partner Sheoran. Both these Indian players made slow starts in the ranking rounds. At one point Tomar was running sixth and Sheoran was running eighth.

After that, however, he improved his game. Sheoran was second after 10 shots from the prone position, while Tomar was fifth. But then there was a change and Sheron dropped first to fifth and later to seventh place and was out of medal contention. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, however, secured the second position.

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Earlier, in the women's 25m pistol event, India's Rhythm Sangwan made it to the ranking round by scoring 589 in the qualification round. However, she finished fourth in the ranking round. Veronika Major of Hungary won the gold medal of this event. Other Indian players competing in the event were Manu Bhaker and Isha Singh. They scored 571 and 570 to finish 32nd and 34th respectively.