Who is Samrat Rana? All you need to know about India's latest shooting World Champion

Samrat Rana became India’s first-ever world champion in the men’s 10m air pistol.

Samrat Rana gave a moment to cherish for India with his breathtaking performance at the 2025 ISSF World Shooting Championships, which is currently taking place in Cairo, Egypt.

In his maiden world championships, Rana was engaged in a tough final round against China’s Hu Kai, who had been in stellar form this season.

Heading into the final round of two shots, Samrat had a 0.1-point lead. With one shot to go, the Indian needed a 10.3 or higher to seal a gold medal.

Rana returned with a supreme 10.6 and finished with 243.7 points to achieve glory for the country. Meanwhile, Kai (243.3) and India’s Varun Tomar (221.7) won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Let’s take a detailed look at Samrat Rana‘s shooting journey so far and who helped him to become a world champion.

When did Samrat Rana began training in shooting?

Samrat Rana is the youngest of the four children of his father, Ashok Rana. In 2015, the family shifted to the Karnal district for better education facilities. Ashok witnessed multiple shooting ranges in the district, which reignited his desire to become a shooter.

Major upset in Cairo! 😱Samrat Rana 🇮🇳 wins gold in his FIRST senior final, beating Hu Kai 🇨🇳 – who has won four World Cup golds this season! 🔥Rana's teammate Varun Tomar finishes with the bronze.#ISSF #ShootingSports pic.twitter.com/ByLRs8IqCO

— ISSF (@issf_official) November 10, 2025

Notably, Ashok was interested in taking up a career in shooting, but didn’t get a proper pathway to realize his dream in Uplana. Instead, he wanted Samrat to get trained and represent the country in the sport.

Ashok built a makeshift pistol shooting range in 2017 at their home for his son, who was just 12 years old. After a year of training, Ashok admitted Samrat into an academy for the facilities, which were only possible in the range.

Moreover, he also felt that the paperwork procedure to compete at the state and national level will be easier to process in the academy.

Samrat Rana’s shooting journey

In a couple of years of his training, Samrat made it to the national level. He represented India at the 2022 Junior World Championships in Cairo, clinching gold in the men’s and mixed team events.

Also Read: Fact Check: Is Samrat Rana related to Jaspal Rana?

After gaining success in the sport, Samrat shifted to their house in Karnal, which Ashok built along with a basement designed for pistol shooting. Although, Samrat had the chance to train in Delhi, he instead stuck to training with his father.

During the 2025 ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, Samrat finished in tenth place and finished with a score of 582-20x, narrowly missing out on top-eight qualification score of 582-25x.

However, the performance certainly impressed the shooting fraternity and filled him with confidence to achieve better results.

Notable achievements of Samrat Rana at 2025 ISSF World Championships

Samrat Rana created history by becoming the first Indian to win the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Shooting Championships.

Meanwhile, Rana became only the third Indian to clinch a World Championship gold medal in an Olympic shooting discipline.

Before him, Abhinav Bindra and Rudrankksh Patil won gold in the men’s 10m air rifle event at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships and men’s 10m air rifle shooting at the ISSF President’s Cup 2022, respectively.

The next target for Samrat Rana and Ashok Rana will be to win the coveted medal in the 2028 Olympics. Ashok said:

“It’s very good that he’s won a World Championships gold, but the medal every shooter wants is the Olympic medal. We have three years for that competition, and that’s our target. Our journey isn’t complete till we win that medal.”

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