Vijayveer Sidhu Triumphs Over Fellow Olympians to Secure National Title in Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol

New Delhi, Dec 26 (NationPress) Punjab native Vijayveer Sidhu triumphed in a fierce contest among Olympians, securing his inaugural national title in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol (RFP) Olympic event at the ongoing 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR) Finals Hall on Thursday.

The Paris Olympian Vijayveer outperformed Rio Olympian Gurpreet Singh (Army Marksmanship Unit) with a score of 28-25 in the championship round of the men’s RFP. Shivam Shukla from the Air Force secured third place, scoring 23 in this event.

Vijayveer achieved a score of 581 during qualifications, placing him second in the six-man eight series of five rapid-fire shots, just behind Ankur Goel from Uttar Pradesh, who scored 585. Gurpreet, who revealed post-finals that this would be his final nationals before transitioning to coaching, ended up in sixth place with a score of 575.

In the final, Vijayveer maintained a commanding performance from the second series onwards, while Gurpreet demonstrated resilience, overcoming two shoot-offs—one to secure a medal—after Ankur finished fourth with four out of five, taking home a commendable silver.

In the junior men’s RFP category, Raajwardan Ashutosh Paatil from Maharashtra delivered an outstanding performance to clinch gold with 31 hits. He achieved this feat with three consecutive perfect scores of 5 during the fifth, sixth, and seventh series, leaving his competitors with no chance. Suraj Sharma from Madhya Pradesh secured second place with 23 hits, while Abhinav Choudhary of Rajasthan took bronze with 21 hits.