Sift Kaur Samra is one of the fastest rising stars in the world of shooting, with her clinical performances in various competitions in the last couple of years. She is the Asian Games gold medalist in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event in Hangzhou 2022, which is widely regarded as the best achievement in her young career.
As the five-time medalist at the ISSF Junior World Cup, she captured the imagination of the shooting community in 2022 after becoming the national champion in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event. The 22-year-old followed it up with a bronze medal in her trademark shooting event at the ISSF World Cup, finding herself in the Indian national team.
Prior to winning the Asian Games individual gold a year ago, Sift Kaur Samra broke the longstanding world record of Seonaid McIntosh of Great Britain with an astonishing 469.6 points. She accumulated 154.6 points in kneeling, 157.1 points in standing elimination, and 157.9 points in prone, to get the better of the highly competitive Qiongyue Zhang of China.
In the team event at the Asian Games last year, Sift Kaur Samra won the silver medal alongside her compatriots Ashi Chouksey and Manini Kaushik in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions. With the help of the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) scheme, she will be looking to make new grounds in the world of shooting, and there is no bigger stage for her to do so, than the Paris 2024.
The shooting contingent had a disappointing time in Tokyo 2020, winning no medal despite boasting some of the best performers on the world stage. With that, there is some pressure on Sift Kaur Samra to not only deliver her best performance at the upcoming Olympic Games, but also content with the fan expectation of a medal from shooting later this month.