"VAN" (Sports Desk - 08.12.2025) :: Simranpreet Kaur Brar, still a junior, won India a sensational second gold medal at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final (WCF) Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Doha, equaling the final’s junior world record score of 41 in the women’s 25m pistol event, to stun the Sunday crowd at the Lusail Shooting Complex in the Qatari capital. Simran began the final with two hits out of five, but shot 39 of the next 45 above the required mark of 10.2 or above, for a superlative effort. China’s Yao Qianxun, reigning air pistol world champion, won silver with 36 hits while former world champion Doreen Vennekamp of Germany won bronze with 30 hits.
A calm Simranpreet said after the match, “I was focused on executing my shots rather than focusing on the screen. I was calm, but inside we have nervousness for the finals. I am just happy I executed it properly.”
Earlier Simranpreet shot 584 for a fifth-place finish in qualifying to make a second consecutive WCF medal round, while Esha Singh finished fourth with a solid 585, to make a first WCF final. Manu Bhaker, the third Indian in the fray and a double Olympic medalist, was ninth in her qualification round with a 581.
In the final, while Esha started with a five Simranpreet appeared slow off the blocks. But as the final warmed up, it was evident, that Simran had found her range, while Esha was not quite at her best.
Successive series of five, four and five, for the fourth, fifth and sixth series took Simranpreet into the lead as Esha bowed out in seventh place.
The seventh series was another four as the Olympic champion Yang Jiin of Korea bit the dust and with three needed to confirm a medal, the young Indian scored another four hits to sail through that target.
She was relentless on the day however and would not settle for only a medal, firing another four in the ninth to go into the 10th and final series four ahead of Yao as Doreen settled for bronze.
She then shot a perfect five to nail both the gold, the junior world record and a first ever WCF medal, in great style.
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