Doha, November 11: Indian shooter Niraj Kumar clinched the bronze medal in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the ISSF World Championship 2026 in Doha on Wednesday, securing the country's first rifle quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Niraj finished third in the final with a score of 346.5, behind Individual Neutral Athlete Dmitrii Pimenov, who claimed gold with a junior world record score of 362.8, and Slovakia's Patrik Jany, who took silver.

The medal also marked India's second Olympic quota place at the ongoing championship. The country had earlier secured its first quota through Jaypal Malviya, who won silver in the men's 10m Air Pistol event.

Niraj entered the final in impressive form after topping the qualification round with a score of 591-29x. He carried that momentum into the medal round and remained in contention for the silver medal during the closing stages.

However, a 9.4 in the final phase proved costly, allowing him to finish third and settle for bronze. Despite missing out on a higher podium position, his performance secured a significant result for Indian shooting.

India had another finalist in Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who finished fifth with a score of 323.7.

The bronze was Niraj's first individual medal at the ISSF World Championship. It was also his second podium finish at the Doha event, having earlier contributed to India's bronze medal in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions team competition on November 10, alongside Aishwary and Akhil Sheoran.

The result adds to India's growing medal and Olympic qualification tally at the championship, with the shooting contingent continuing its push for places at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Story first published: Wednesday, November 11, 2026, 18:40 [IST]

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