Aichi-Nagoya, 25 September (H.S.): India secured another shooting medal at the 2026 Asian Games as the trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Niraj Kumar won the silver medal in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team event. The Indian team scored 1762-94x in the final, finishing four points behind China, who won the gold with 1766-95x. The Republic of Korea secured the bronze medal with a score of 1751-87x.

India had won the gold medal in this event at the 2022 Asian Games, but this time surrendered the title to China. With this silver, India’s medal tally at the Asian Games rose to 19, comprising two gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals.

Aishwary and Niraj Reach Individual Final

Along with the team event, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Niraj Kumar also qualified for the final of the individual event. Aishwary finished third with a score of 589-34x, while Niraj secured fourth place with 588-34x.

Rudrankksh Patil finished ninth with a score of 585-26x and missed out on a place in the individual final.

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, a native of Ratanpur village in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district, is among India’s leading shooters in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. He began training at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal in 2015.

In 2019, he won gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl and set a junior world record in the process.

He followed that achievement by winning gold at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi and another gold with a junior world record at the ISSF Junior World Championships in Lima.

Aishwary represented India at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He won silver at the 2025 ISSF World Championships in Cairo and gold at the 2026 Asian Rifle/Pistol Championships in New Delhi.

Hoshiarpur’s Niraj Kumar has established himself internationally through a series of strong performances in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. He won a team bronze medal at the 2022 ISSF World Championships.

At the 2026 Asian Rifle/Pistol Championships, Niraj won the silver medal in the individual event and also contributed to India’s team gold. He now has another opportunity to win an individual medal at the Asian Games.

Indian shooter Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil established himself at the international level at a young age, particularly in the 10m Air Rifle event. Hailing from Thane, Maharashtra, Rudrankksh is among India’s leading rifle shooters and has won medals for the country at several major international competitions.

In 2022, Rudrankksh made history by winning the men’s 10m Air Rifle gold medal at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo. He became only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual world title in the event. His achievement also secured an Olympic quota place for India for the Paris Games.

That same year, Rudrankksh also won gold in the men’s team event at the ISSF World Championships. He has additionally won several medals at the ISSF President’s Cup, World Cup and Asian Championships.

At the 2026 Asian Championships in New Delhi, he won gold in the 10m Air Rifle, while he had also won gold in the same event in Jakarta in 2024.

In 2025, Rudrankksh won gold at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires. Earlier, he had won gold at the 2023 World Cup in Cairo and bronze at the World Cup in Bhopal. He also won a silver medal at the 2021 ISSF Junior World Championships in Lima.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar