Simranpreet Kaur Brar wins 25m pistol gold in stacked field at ISSF World Cup Final

“This title is the biggest medal of my career and I am glad that I could come right on my technique and it worked. There are now more things to focus on in the coming years and this title will add to my confidence,” shared Kaur while speaking with The Indian Express.

The Faridkot native would start the final, had missed four shots in the first two series and was placed seventh. Over the next 40 shots with the elimination series underway, Brar would only miss five targets in the final. She had a three-shot lead over Qianxun and Vennekamp and with three shooters remaining would shoot a perfect five last series to edge out Qianxun for the title.

“When I missed the shots early in the final. I knew I had to forget about that. And after I hit the perfect series in the final then too I knew I had to forget and focus on the next series. That has been my thought process always,” shared Brar.

Father Sharminder Brar, who had left his government teacher’s job three years ago to support his daughter’s training, watched the final along with wife Harcharan Kaur. “I had left my government job as a teacher to support Simran’s training. Initially, a lot of people would tell us Simran being the only child and that too a girl, the focus should be her marriage. But we just thought about giving her the best. I had to take out money from our savings to get her pistols whether it be 10m or 25m pistols and her six pistols are like our family jewels,” says the proud father.

The youngster had won the silver at the Lima World Cup earlier this year. Indian Shooting team’s high performance manager Ronak Pandit recalls how Brar made a comeback. “The dip in form came due to her trying extra and it would also mean that the stability and trigger movement would take a hit. She also had a bout of illness. We did different technical exercises so that the trigger finger be more independent so that the wrist will have less disturbance. She also has a close bond with my wife Heena Sidhu, whom she idolises and would get selfies with. Now we told her that we need selfies with her with this gold (laughs),” said Pandit.

Earlier in the day, World Championships bronze medalist Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won the bronze medal in men’s 50m rifle 3P final while World Championship silver medallist Anish Bhanwala ended India’s day with a silver medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol final. Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra did not make the final in the women’s 50m rifle 3P final.