On Day 3 in Cairo, Egypt, when all eyes of Indian fans were on double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh, it was the men’s pistol shooters who stole the limelight. India achieved a historic 1–3 finish in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Championship 2025.
Samrat Rana was crowned World Champion in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol, scripting history. The 20-year-old Indian displayed immense composure and delivered a clutch performance in the final to win India’s first-ever gold medal in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event.
Competing in his first World Championship, Rana caused a major upset by scoring 243.7 to beat China’s Hu Kai, who had won four World Cup gold medals this year and has been the most consistent pistol shooter of 2025. Hu settled for silver with 243.3, while another Indian, Varun Tomar, clinched the bronze with 221.7.
The Indians dominated the qualification round as well. Rana scored an impressive 586-27X, finishing on top, while Tomar followed closely with 586-26X to finish second. Shravan Kumar shot 582-16X and narrowly missed out on the individual finals but joined Rana and Tomar to win the team gold. The Indian trio scored a combined 1754-69X and defeated Italy to clinch the gold.
In the final, Varun and Rana carried the same calm and composure. After 10 shots, both Rana and Varun were in medal contention. Varun remained in the race for gold until the 18th shot, but a 9.6 on his 20th attempt pushed him to third place. Samrat, meanwhile, elevated his game with every round, hitting multiple 10.9s to move to the top. In the final (24th) shot, Hu Kai fired a 10.6 to reach 243.3, which meant Samrat needed at least 10.3 to secure the gold and Rana delivered a stunning 10.6 in heroic fashion, sealing the World Championship title.
With this gold, Rana joined an elite list of Indian male shooters who have become World Champions in individual Olympic shooting events at the World Championship. Before him, only Abhinav Bindra (2006, Men’s 10m Air Rifle), Manavjeet Singh Sandhu (2006, Trap), and Rudrankksh Patil (2022, Men’s 10m Air Rifle) had achieved this feat.
Reflecting on his victory, Rana said, “It’s my first World Championship. I still can’t believe it. Winning gold is an unbelievable moment for me. I was focusing on my technique and trying to repeat every shot with precision.”
In the Women’s 10m Air Pistol final, double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and Asian Games medallist Esha Singh missed the podium. Manu was performing well before shooting an 8.8 on her 14th shot, which led to her elimination in seventh place (139.5). Esha followed soon after with a poor 8.4 on her 16th shot and finished sixth.
Both Manu and Esha had impressive performances in the qualification rounds. Esha scored 583-25X, including a perfect 100 in the third series, while Manu finished with 580-20X after struggling in her last series. Teenage sensation Suruchi Phogat (577-17X) failed to make the final due to two poor last series but helped India win the team silver along with Manu and Esha, with a combined total of 1740, finishing just behind China.
India is currently placed second in the medal standings with nine medals (three gold, three silver, and three bronze). China leads the medal table with 12 medals.
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