New Delhi: Narmada Nithin Raju produced a remarkable performance to set a new national record to win gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event at the 38th National Games in Dehradun on Thursday. The former World Cup winner overcame strong competition including Asian Games medallist Ramita Jindal and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan to shoot down the national record and even came close to equalling the world mark by a fraction of a point.
Narmada, representing Tamil Nadu, won the gold with a record-breaking score of 254.4 and finished atop the podium ahead of Maharashtra’s Arya Borse (252.5) and Ramita (230.4) in the eight-shooter final.
Narmada broke the national record of 252.9 set by Olympian Apurvi Chandela at the 2019 World Cup in New Delhi. She missed the world record score of 254.5 points, set by Huang Yuting of China at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, by a whisker.
We are glad to inform that Ms. Narmada Nithin Raju from Tamil Nadu has won gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle (Women) at the 38th National Games 2025🥇🏆#tnoa | #tnoawards | #tamilnadu | #tamilnadusports |#sports | #Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/qnsMOLiw5B
— Tamilnadu Olympic Association (@TNOA_Offi) January 30, 2025
A remarkable rise
The 23-year-old continued her rise in the shooting world and claimed the third-biggest career achievement after the 10m air rifle mixed team gold at the 2023 Cairo World Cup and a bronze at the World Cup in Bhopal the same year.
Narmada showed nerves of steel and composure to register a flurry of strong scores and beat her more illustrious rivals in the final. She upped the ante on Thursday after finishing third at the end of the qualification round on Wednesday.
She showed incredible consistency in terms of high-scoring shots with three of her attempts achieving maximum impact of 10.9. The other two shots were not bad too in the 24-shot final, fetching her 10.8. She didn’t fire a shot below 10 in any of her 24 shots in the final.
Maharashtra’s 22-year-old shooter Arya Borse was unfortunate to finish second and would have clinched the top podium spot on any other day.
Haryana’s Asian Games bronze medallist shooter Ramita who topped the qualification round with a superb score of 634.9 had to settle for a bronze medal despite a good performance. She consistently shot 10-plus scores on Thursday but couldn’t go past Narmada and Arya.
Several top players are taking part in the shooting discipline of the National Games. Barring Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh, all the shooters, who competed in the Paris Olympics last year, are participating in the National Games.
With 364 shooters representing 29 teams at the National Games, shooting is the star attraction of the Games.
Tamil Nadu’s: Narmada Nithin Raju broke the national record of 252.9 set by former Olympian Apurvi Chandela at the 2019 WC in New Delhi. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
