From last place to gold, how Sift Kaur Samra fought back to finish atop podium

After 15 shots in the kneeling series, which is followed by prone and standing, the 23-year-old from Faridkot was 7.2 points behind Germany’s Anita Mangold and in last position in the eight-shooter final. Yet she launched a comeback in the prone and standing positions to top with 458.6 points to pip Anita, who was three points behind at 455.3.

Not panicking

Despite trailing in the kneeling series, Sift didn’t panic.

“During the kneeling position in the final, the alignment of the rifle was bit off in the final. Also the new rule reduces the time to settle, down to 30 seconds from two minutes. I am competing with the new rules in place for the first time. I found my rhythm slowly. I knew I could make up points in the prone and standing position,” Sift told The Indian Express.

Ironically, Sift had performed brilliantly in the kneeling position during qualification.

Coach Deepali Deshpande was impressed that Sift fought back despite the early stumbles in the kneeling series in the final. “The conditions during the qualification were cold and windy. The final happened half an hour after qualification, it took some time for her to adjust,” Deshpande said. A quick turnaround time between qualification and final is also unique to World Cups, because at the Olympics the final takes place a day later.

Indian team’s foreign coach Thomas Farnik was also impressed by Sift’s kneeling series in qualification. “The conditions were a bit windy here but then how she adjusted the balance very quickly in the kneeling series in the qualification was commendable. She shot her shots very quickly both in kneeling and prone which gave her ample time to shoot with ease in standing. She had more than 20 minutes to shoot the last six standing series shots and that would have settled things for her,” Farnik said.

World record holder @SiftSamra 🇮🇳 kicked off her season with a statement win in Buenos Aires! 🥇👏#ISSF #ISSFWorldCup #ShootingSports pic.twitter.com/Evi9HfUKmC

— ISSF (@issf_official) April 5, 2025

Going by her series of shots in the qualification Sift was a favourite for the final. With a score of 590, Sift had topped the 60-shot qualification round.

Some big names also fell by the wayside in the qualification round, like reigning Olympic champion Chiara Leone and 2020 Olympic Champion Nina Christian of Switzerland.

Samra would start the prone series, where the shooter lies flat on the mat taking aim at the 10.44mm inner ten ring target placed 50m away, with a first series of 51.8, second highest among the eight shooters before she shot the second series of 52.9, the highest among the eight shooters. The third series in prone position would see Samra shooting a score of 52.2.

Sift Kaur Samra with coaches Thomas Farnik and Deepali Deshpande. (Special Arrangement)

At the end of the prone series, Samra was still placed at the last spot with a score of 304.1 and a deficit of just 0.2 points between her and seventh placed Emely Jaeggi of Switzerland and a deficit of 4.3 between her and top placed Nele Stark of Germany. The first two standing series would see Samra shooting scores of 52.3 (highest) and 51.2 (second highest) to climb to the top of the leaderboard with a score of 407.6 and a 0.6 point lead over Wanru Miao of China and Jaeggi.

As the single shot elimination round began, Samra would only shoot once below 10 with her last shot coming as 9.7. But having a lead of 2.6 over the second-placed Mangold prior to the last shot gave Sift the edge. Mangold shot 9.0 in her last shot, Samra would win the gold.

The gold at the ISSF World Cup will ease the pain for Sift, who finished 31st in the qualification at the Paris Olympics and missed the final.

“After the Paris Olympics I spent time at home and that cheered me up. Now since I appeared in the national trials and have won the gold here, whatever happened in Paris is history. Of course the disappointment of the Paris Olympics will be part of my shooting journey. But my bigger goal remains winning an Olympic medal for India,” Sift said.

Back home in Faridkot, Sift’s father Pawandeep Singh Samra was confident of his daughter finishing on the podium.

“Sift has the belief that nothing is impossible. And that’s what has helped her win the gold in Argentina today. After winning the gold, the first message to us was about the World Cup in Peru next week,” Pawandeep said.

Work in progress

Foreign coach Farnik says there is still work to do with a focus on the kneeling series.

“The pulse rate in the kneeling series is the lowest. So managing the pulse and when to fire a shot is the key. She had started off as a 10m air rifle shooter so her standing series have always been good. In the coming weeks, we will work on adjusting between the low pulse in kneeling and taking shots,” Farnik said..

Post the disappointment in Paris, Sift started training along with compatriot Akhil Sheoran, a multiple World Cup medallist.

“After the Olympics, my talk with her was to start training whenever she liked and without any burden. Since I was in Mumbai, Akhil Sheoran helped her a lot in training. The training sessions helped her iron out some of the issues,” coach Deshpande said.

Breathing patterns is also an area Sift worked on,” Akhil said.

From the low of Paris to the high in Buenos Aires, Sift is back in form and among the medals.