Indian shooters miss out on pistol medals

CHENNAI: Olympian Gurpreet Singh’s ninth-place finish was the best India could manage in the 25m Standard Pistol event at the ISSF World Championships 2025 in Cairo on Saturday, as the contingent missed out on medals in both the men’s and women’s sections.

China’s Yao Qianxun extended her dominant run, securing her third individual gold of the competition after earlier winning the 10m Air Pistol mixed team gold and taking silver in the 25m Sports Pistol. Switzerland’s Adrian Schaub emerged world champion in the men’s event.

In the overall medal tally, India stayed third with three gold, five silver and four bronze medals. China leads with 12 gold, followed by South Korea with seven.

In the men’s event, Gurpreet posted 571-14x to finish ninth, while Udhayveer Sidhu (561-9x) and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu (559-6x) placed 23rd and 24th. South Korea’s Yeongjae Cho won silver and Ukraine’s Pavlo Korostylov claimed bronze.

In the women’s category, Parisha Gupta was the best Indian performer, finishing 10th with 556-11x. Shikha Chaudhary (555-11x) came 12th, and Agam Grewal (547-9x) placed 19th.

Earlier, former Asian, Mixed Team and Junior World champion Esha Singh won her maiden individual World Championship medal, taking bronze in the women’s 25m Pistol Olympic event with a score of 30. She finished behind China’s Yao Qianxun (38) and Korea’s Olympic champion Yang Jiin, who took gold with 40.

Esha’s medal contributed to India’s strong campaign across the 10 Olympic events, where the country secured one gold, four silver and two bronze. Overall, India sits third on the table with three gold, five silver and four bronze medals, trailing China and Korea.