Tilottama Sen Wins Gold in Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Positions at National Shooting Championships

Teenage Bengaluru shooter Tilottama Sen gave a composed performance to win the women’s 50m rifle 3-Positions gold at the National Shooting Championships, here on Saturday. The 17-year-old, who was the youngest Indian shooter to secure a Paris Olympics quota place for the country, took the top podium spot with a score of 466.9. Kerala’s Vidarsa K Vinod secured the silver medal with 462.9, finishing four points adrift, while Railways’ rifle stalwart Ayonika Paul completed the podium with the bronze after scoring 451.8. Earlier, Tilottama had topped the qualification round with 591, underscoring her consistency across standing, kneeling and prone positions.

Vidarsa followed closely in second place with 589, while Tilottama’s Karnataka statemate Anushka Thokur finished third in qualification with 588. In the final, Anushka narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with 441.2. Ayushi Podder was placed fifth with 430.6, followed by Ashi Chouksey, who finished with 430.6 after qualifying with a score of 585. Shriyanka Sadangi (403.9 in final and 585 in qualification) and Ramita (403.8, 586) rounded off the final lineup.

In junior women’s 50m rifle 3P, Army’s Rituparna Deshmukh came up with a controlled performance in the final to claim gold with 458.6. She rose from fourth position in qualification, where she shot 584, to peak in the final. Haryana’s Nischal mounted a strong challenge but finished just 0.5 points behind to take the silver with 458.1. Karnataka’s Anushka Thokur secured bronze with 447.6. Shrivalli finished fourth in the with 437.2, followed by Ramita with 424.9 and Tilottama with 414.3. In the senior women’s 50m rifle 3P team event, Rajasthan (Manini Kaushik, Sweety Choudhary and Monika Jakhar) clinched gold with an aggregate score of 1751.

Madhya Pradesh (Ashi Chouksey, Shrivalli Shrivastava and Nupur Kumrawat) took the silver with 1750, while Haryana (Swati, Aakriti Dahiya and Nischal) secured the bronze with an identical score. Karnataka topped the junior women’s team standing with an aggregate of 1749. Madhya Pradesh took the silver 1737, while Maharashtra (1729) completed the podium.