Teenager Riya Shirish Thatte stuns top field to win 25m pistol title at Shooting Nationals

Published at :December 17, 2024 at 5:31 PM

Modified at :December 17, 2024 at 5:31 PM

Simranpreet Kaur won the junior women’s title at the 67th National Shooting Championship.

Aurangabad teenager Riya Shirish Thatte stunned a top field in the 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) women’s 25m pistol final here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR), to land her first senior national title.

Riya got the better of Punjab’s Simranpreet Kaur Brar 7-2 in a shoot-off for gold, after both had tied at 31-hits in the eight-series of five-shots decider. Olympian and former Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat was third with 25 hits.

Teen sensation takes center stage! 🔥🎯Aurangabad’s Riya Shirish Thatte stuns the field to claim her first senior national title in the women’s 25m pistol at the 67th National Shooting Championship! 🏆Riya edged out Punjab’s Simranpreet Kaur Brar 7-2 in a dramatic shoot-off… pic.twitter.com/IPddilXiXv
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) December 17, 2024

Simranpreet rounded off a great year to win the junior women’s title on the day to add to her senior silver, this time winning the gold shoot-off 5-2 over Haryana’s Payal, after both had tied on 34-hits a-piece. Riya won bronze in this category with 30-hits.

Riya’s father Shirish, a former national level shooter himself and her first coach who is also accompanying the shooter said, “She had tears in her eyes. There is no range in Aurangabad, and we used to travel 250kms to Pune’s Balewadi range where Akshay Ashtaputre, also the mentor of Swapnil Kusale, has been coaching her for last five years. She wants to shoot and earn laurels for India.”

The senior finals field, besides Simranpreet, who was in contention to make the Paris Olympics this year and Rahi, also had such top former internationals as Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh among others.

Earlier Simranpreet topped both the qualification stages with identical scores of 584. Riya, while qualifying second in the juniors, managed to make the final, clinching the eighth and last qualifying spot with scores of 576.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram