Niraj Kumar was not even in his teenagers when Chain Singh first competed in seniors. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar was nonetheless taking pictures balloons at village festivals when the seasoned Armyman received his first main worldwide medals, the Asian Championship gold and Asian Video games bronze in 2014.
However as the 2 Gen Zs — Tomar, particularly — grew as much as develop into the faces of the gun-toting military of teenage shooters, Chain, now 35, turned the forgotten man of Indian taking pictures, a face within the crowd, till Friday.
It’s in all probability a testomony to the depth of Indian taking pictures that the three shooters chopping throughout generations shared the area within the remaining of the 50m Rifle 3-Positions on the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires. And it was the licensed journeyman, not the younger weapons, who completed on the rostrum.
Chain Singh received India’s first medal of the brand new taking pictures season, clinching a bronze with a rating of 443.7 to pip Tomar, who completed fourth after scoring 432.6. Kumar was the second to exit the eight-man remaining, having managed a tally of 402.5.
That is Chain’s first particular person World Cup medal — he received a crew medal in 2021 and 2022 every — and his first particular person medal in any competitors because the 2014 Asian Video games.
Chain’s grit
Past these numbers lies the story of Chain’s grit and endurance. Rising up throughout peak insurgency in Doda, Kashmir, surrounded by violence, Chain spent his early years frightened of weapons and loving cricket. It was solely within the Military that he shed his worry of firing and remodeled right into a prodigy. He introduced his arrival on the massive stage with the 2 Asian medals in 2014, making him one of many medal prospects for the Rio Olympics.
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open account at @issf_official World Cup. Senior professional military man Chain Singh with an ISSF medal after three years
#ISSFWorldCup #IndianShooting #TeamIndia #Capturing #IndianShootingTeam #3P pic.twitter.com/E5sqvuREFS
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) April 4, 2025
However as he ready for the 2016 Video games in Lausanne, Chain was hospitalised after being recognized with pneumonia and pulmonary embolism. He recovered in time for the Olympics however might solely handle a Twenty third-place end within the 3-position and thirty sixth in rifle susceptible, an occasion that’s now discontinued on the Olympics.
“Greater than bodily, it was a psychological battle and I’m glad that my psychological resolve helped me come out of that,” Chain advised The Indian Categorical. “Whereas I recovered forward of the Rio Olympics, the subsequent three years noticed me on medicines, I needed to reduce the bodily regime, which I adopted earlier. Now to win my first particular person medal in ISSF World Cup is a particular second for me.” Chain added that for the final three years he has been coaching underneath overseas coach Thomas Farnik and commanding officer at MHOW Col Naren Babu. “As I began extra bodily and energy coaching beginning 2019, it could assist me bodily too, seeing how a lot the 3P occasion calls for.”
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Within the post-Rio shake-up, which coincided with the exceptional rise of a younger batch together with the likes of Manu Bhaker, Chain slipped into oblivion. On the again of strong performances domestically, he returned to the nationwide crew post-Paris Olympics and within the yr’s first competitors, confirmed indicators of regaining his misplaced contact.
For a very long time, it appeared like Tomar would win a medal — a bronze as Istvan Peni, the gold medallist, and China’s Jiaming Tian had taken an enormous lead. However a poor 7.8 on the forty first shot, out of a most 45, meant Chain leapfrogged his compatriot into medal positions. And he held on masterfully to finish his 11-year watch for a person worldwide medal.
“Kneeling place required loads of steadiness and because it was windy, I struggled a bit initially,” Chain stated. “However then as soon as I bought set later within the kneeling stage, it helped me in a susceptible place. The Stability in susceptible helped with the scores and my focus was to regain my floor with every shot coming. I repeated that course of until the ultimate shot of mine. To edge out Tomar for the third spot is at all times powerful however then that’s life. We’re roommates additionally and we continue learning from one another quite a bit other than discussing our taking pictures.”
Double Olympics bronze medalist Manu Bhaker returned a rating of 291 out of a potential 300 to lie fourth within the first precision spherical of the ladies’s 25m pistol qualifiers. The ultimate takes place on Saturday.
