Some stumbles for Kaur Samara in the 50m Rifle 3P final of women of ISSF World Cup at Buenos Aires.
The first was a rule change. In this incident, the shooters first got two minutes to get into a position to kneel. However, the time in the ISSF World Cup was cut for only 30 seconds. The weather conditions were also not ideal, in which it was wind and cold. Nevertheless, Sift made a remarkable comeback to win its first individual ISSF World Cup gold medal.
After 15 shots in the kneeling series, after which prone and standing, 23-year-old from Faridkot, Anita Mongold of Germany and 7.2 points in the final place in the eight-shooter finals were 7.2 points behind. Nevertheless, she returned to Pip Anita at the top and standing positions with 458.6 points, three points behind 455.3.
Don’t panic
Despite retreating in a knee chain, Sift did not panic.
“During the kneeling position in the final, the alignment of the rifle was slightly closed in the finals. Apart from this, the new rule reduces the time to settle for two minutes to 30 seconds. I am competing with new rules for the first time. I found my rhythm slowly. I knew that I could make points in the event of Prone and standing.”
The irony is that Shift performed brilliantly in the event of kneeling during merit.
Coach Deepali Deshpande was impressed that SIFT fought back, despite the initial stumble in the series of kneeling in the final. Deshpande said, “The situation during merit was cold and wind. After half an hour after qualification, it took some time to adjust.” The time for a quick change between merit and finals is also unique to the World Cup, as the final in the Olympics occurs a day later.
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The Indian team’s foreign coach Thomas Ferrnnik was also influenced by Sift’s series in merit. “The conditions here were a little wind, but then how he adjusted the balance in the knee series very quickly. He was commendable. He shot his shots in both kneeling and prone, who gave him enough time to shoot easily. He had more than 20 minutes to shoot the last six standing series shots and he would solve things for him.”
World record holder @Siftsamra Buen kicked his season with a statement in Buenos Aires!#ISSF #ISSFWORLDCUP #Shootingsports pic.twitter.com/evi9hfukmc
– ISSF (@ISSF_OFFICIAL) April 5, 2025
The qualification was a favorite for the final according to his series of shots in shift. With a score of 590, SIFT topped the 60-shot merit round.
Some major names also fell from the road in the era of merit, such as Olympic champion Chiara Leone and 2020 Olympic champion Nina Christian of Switzerland.
The Samara will start the pron series, where the shooter is a flat on the mat on the mat on 10.44 mm inner ten ring target, which was kept 50 meters away, with the first series of 51.8, the second largest of the eight shooters, the second largest of the 52.9, the second of the eight shooters, the highest among the eight shooters. In prone position, the third series will see Samara in shooting for a score of 52.2.
Squeeze Kaur Samara with coach Thomas Fernic and Deepli Deshpande. (Special arrangement)
At the end of the prone chain, Samara was still ranked final with a score of 304.1 and a lack of just 0.2 points between him and the seventh placed Switzerland’s Emli Jigi of Switzerland and 4.3 between him and the top Nelle Stark of Germany. The first two permanent chains will be seen with a score of 52.3 (highest) and 51.2 (the second largest) with a score of 407.6 and will be seen with a gain of 0.6 points on the Leaderboard and Vanaru Miao and Jagi’s Vanaru Miao.
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As soon as the single shot elimination round began, Samra would only shoot below 10, with his last shot coming as 9.7. But the edge gained an edge due to a 2.6 lead on Mongold, who finished second before the last shot. Mongold shot 9.0 in his last shot, Samra will win gold.
The ISSF will reduce the pain for sustaining gold in the World Cup, who finished 31st in merit in the Paris Olympics and missed the final.
“After the Paris Olympics I spent time at home and made me happy. Now that I appeared in national tests and won gold here, everything that happened in Paris is history. Of course the disappointment of Paris Olympics will be part of my shooting journey. But my big goal is winning an Olympic medal for India.”
Back home in Faridkot, Sift’s father Pavdeep Singh Samra was assured to end his daughter at the podium.
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Pavdeep said, “Shift believes nothing is impossible. And it has helped him win gold in Argentina today. After winning gold, the first message for us was about the World Cup in Peru next week.”
Work on progress
Foreign coach Fernic says that with focus on the series of knee, it still has to work.
“Pulse rate is the lowest in the knee chain. So it is important to manage the pulse and when firing a shot. He started as a 10m air rifle shooter, so his permanent chain has always been good. In the coming weeks, we will work on adjusting between low pulse in knee and taking shots.”
After disappointment in Paris, SIFT began training with the World Cup medalist, compatriot Akhil Shoran.
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Coach Deshpande said, “After the Olympics, I liked him whenever I liked and had to start training without any burden. Since I was in Mumbai, Akhil Sheeran helped him a lot in training. Training sessions helped to take out some issues,” Coach Deshpande said.
Akhil said that breathing pattern is also an area.
In Buenos Aires, from the bottom of Paris to the higher level, the Swift ranks between back and medals.
