‘After missing Paris final, didn’t care who won there’ – 50m 3P shooter Sift Kaur Samra after pipping American to bronze at Munich WC

“Yes, I was aware that we both (she and Sagen Maddalena) were tied at the end of the first elimination series. Throughout the final till that series, I was fourth with the top three shooters being the same. And I knew the medal was in my grasp. I did not know Maddalena was the Paris Olympic silver medallist. Even though we have competed in several finals together, missing the final in Paris meant that I did not care about who won the medal. And even if I knew, I know it’s still me who has to do the shooting and it all depends on myself. I am glad that I am taking a medal from the Munich World Cup like I did last year too,” shared Samra while talking with The Indian Express.

Last month, at the ISSF World Cup in Argentina, the first World Cup of the year, Samra was placed at the last spot after the kneeling position with a score of 147.2. She went 156.9 in prone, where the shooter lies flat on the mat taking aim at the 10.44mm inner ten ring target placed 50m away, to climb at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 304.1.

Sift Kaur Samra after winning the bronze medal in the women’s 50m Rifle 3P final in the ISSF Munich World Cup on Thursday. NRAI

On Thursday, Samra would end the kneeling position, trailing Duestad, Jaeggi and Maddalena by 3.2, 3.0 and 1.9 points respectively. After prone, she placed fourth, 2.6 points behind Maddalena, 3.9 behind Jaeggi and 4.2 behind Duestad. However, her kneeling score of 152.9 was slightly better than in recent past when she struggled. Her 154.6 in the 2023 Asian Games final, where she eventually won the gold with a difference of 7.3 points over Chinese Qiongyue Zhang, remains her best.

With ISSF removing kneeling and prone from the finals starting 2026 including at the LA Olympics, national rifle coach Deepali Deshpande still sees Samra working on her kneeling position, a stronger point for her, to aid in good standing series scores.

“Since kneeling is the first position, shooters are sometimes edgy or nervous too and sometimes shooters take time to understand the wind. It took some time for Sift to understand the kneeling position initially in her career but then she has worked on it. While today’s final range was a closed range, Sift showed fine form today. We have been working on things like less movement between the two shots and keeping the head movement minimal during loading and unloading in a kneeling position along with making the balance with the sling. Yes, 2026 onwards finals will be only about standing, but then kneeling will be the first position in qualification,” says Deshpande.

With a gap of 2.6 between her and Maddalena, Samra started the first standing series with a score of 50.8 before she shot 51.3 in the second standing series, which also acts as first elimination for last two spots in the final, to be tied with Maddalena for the third spot.

Shots of 10.7, 10.2, and 10.0 as compared to 9.5, 9.3 and 9.2 by Maddalena ensured a medal. Trailing second placed Jaeggi by 2.4 points, Samra shot a 10.6 as compared to Jaeggi’s 9.3 but bowed out at the bronze medal place.

When asked about standing series being her favourite, Samra was quick to reply, “Jehri series position chal haye, ohi changi (Whichever series position works, that’s good) (Laughs). But on a serious note, in Argentina, my kneeling series was not that good. So I had to cover a lot in the final there. While I practiced for all the three positions and tried to maintain consistency in the three positions, I feel today I shot better in the kneeling as compared to Argentina. I worked on some things in this position in recent weeks and I am glad they worked. It meant that I always had my eyes on the medal, gold, silver or bronze all were within my grasp and I gave myself a chance in the elimination series,” said Samra.

Sift Kaur Samra along with national rifle coach Deepali Deshpande after winning the bronze medal in the women’s 50m Rifle 3P final in the ISSF Munich World Cup on Thursday. ISSF

The Faridkot native shooter also understands that 2026 will see only standing series in the final, a position where she has her best scores, be it qualification or finals, but understands that the format needs to be clear first. “Well the time and shots for standing series in the final are not yet finalised. We will get to know that in a few months. But then in qualification as well as finals in the current format, one has to shoot equal shots in standing series in qualification and almost equal shots in standing series in finals with extra added pressure of elimination too. And then kneeling and prone will be in qualification in the new format. So we cannot count them out,” concluded Samra.

Meanwhile no Indian shooter advanced to the finals in the men’s 10m air rifle final. Ankush Kran Jadhav finished 11th in qualification while last World Cup silver medallist Arjin Babuta finished 43rd in qualification. Sandeep Singh finished 53rd.