11/11/2025
Samrat Rana is the men’s 10m air pistol world champion as Varun Tomar’s adds icing on India’s cake with a bronze
New Delhi, Nov 10, 2025: Young Samrat Rana, a 20-year-old from an agricultural family in Karnal and a third-year student at the Kurukshetra University playing in only his second senior international, stunned the shooting world, outgunning some legends of the sport enroute to being crowned world champion in the men’s 10m air pistol Olympic event. Late on Monday (Nov 10, 2025) evening at the Olympic Shooting range in Cairo, Varun Tomar added the icing on India’s cake with a bronze to make it a historic first double podium for India in any Olympic discipline at an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship.
Rana shot 243.7 in the 24-shot final, to leave Hu Kai of China 0.4 behind in silver medal position. Rana’s senior teammate Tomar had earlier bowed out after the 22nd shot, settling for bronze with his score reading 221.7.
Both Indians began the final missing out on the 10-ring (Tomar in the 8s), but recovered brilliantly and as the lead kept changing in a tense final, stuck to their job with aplomb to pull off a dream result for their country.
The champion’s touch came in the last shot, when Rana, 0.6 ahead, faced a 10.8 by Hu and needed a minimum of 10.3 to win. He shot a clutch 10.6 to complete a performance of a lifetime.
Among those who fell by the wayside amidst Rana and Tomar’s blitz, were former Olympic and World champion and German Pistol legend Christian Reitz, three-time Olympian, former double world champion and Youth Olympic champion Pavlo Korostylov of Ukraine, former world mixed team pistol world champion Richard Zechmeister of Austria and Paris Olympics silver medalist Federico Maldini of Italy.
Earlier the duo did give an inkling of things to come, when they finished 1-2 after the 60-shot 120-strong qualification round to make the top eight finals cut. Both shot 586, with Rana pipping Tomar on more inner 10s.