Khelo India University Games: Sartaj Singh Tiwana shocks Aishwary Pratap Tomar to claim gold in men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Sartaj Singh Tiwana came good, feasting on the loud cheer by the fans at the SAI shooting range, in the gold medal match shocking hot favourite and India No. 1 Aishwary Pratap Tomar 16-6 to climb to the top of the podium in the men’s 50m rifle 3 position event at the Khelo India University Games on Friday. Surya Pratap Banshtu of Panjab University, Chandigarh claimed the bronze.

In the gruelling battle between two friends for the top spot, Tiwana of Lovely Professional University took an early lead 8-2 and never looked back as Tomar, competing for Guru Nanak Dev University, failed to get going in the 16-shot final that was competed in the standing position. Tomar, a Tokyo Olympian, was a cut above the rest of the finalists till the battle between the top-2, which began from zero. At the end of the kneeling series, Tomar was leading with 103.7 points which stretched to 207.7 (after prone) and 307.1 after the standing position.

He finished more than four points ahead of Tiwana going into the gold-medal shootout. “There were expectations that I would win but I can’t win all the time. In this new format, irrespective of how good you are at kneeling and prone, if you are not doing well in standing, your score will come down.

This has been happening with me for quite some time, In kneeling and prone I always lead but lose the advantage in standing. My standing scores are not good for some time now, so I will have to work on that,” Tomar, who is doing his BPEd, told TOI. “I competed at the Khelo Youth Games in Pune in 2018 and that time also I finished with the silver behind Sartaj,” he said.