Vijayveer Sidhu took home a silver medal in the men's 25m rapid-fire pistol event at the Asia Olympic Qualification in Jakarta.
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Vijayveer Sidhu of India bagged the country’s 17th spot for the upcoming Paris Games by winning a silver in the men’s 25-meter rapid-fire shooting event at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in Jakarta this past Saturday. Last year, at the Hangzhou Asian Games, the 21-year-old individual secured a team bronze victory. Anish Bhanwala, an Indian marksman, secured the third position at the Asian Championship held in Korea.
This indicates that Anis has qualified to take part in the competition in Paris. Furthermore, an increasing number of Indian shooters are following suit. Unlike Anish, Vijayveer didn’t lean on his final medal position to grab the quota; he made it to the finals in fourth place with a score of 577. In the final round, where only four of six shooters could grab quota spots, Vijayveer’s talent shone through.
He hit a score of 28 in the elimination phase and clinched the silver medal, trailing behind Kazakhstan’s Nikita Chiryukin, who won gold with 32 points. Rapid-fire pistol events are something India has traditionally excelled in, exemplified by Vijay Kumar’s silver at the 2012 London Olympics. It is possible that Vijayveer and Anish will participate as a team in the rapid-fire shooting event at the Paris Olympics.
If it happens, it will mark the first occasion where two Indian shooters have achieved such a feat. Indian marksmen have now clinched four quotas for the Paris Olympics at the Jakarta qualifiers –Esha Singh in women’s 10m air pistol, Varun Tomar in men’s 10m air pistol, Rhythm Sangwan in women’s 25m sports pistol, and now Vijayveer Sidhu.
Born on June 21, 2002, Vijayveer is an accomplished Indian shooter. He earned a team bronze in men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol at the 2022 Asian Games and secured his chance at the Paris Olympics with a recent silver at the qualifiers in Jakarta on January 13, 2024. Vijayveer and his twin brother Udhayveer began shooting at age 8.
They started shooting in a summer camp at St. Xavier’s School in Mansa. Their dad, Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, supported their passion, relocating the family to Chandigarh for better training in 2015, and their mom, a school teacher, always backed them. The twins struck gold in the 25m air pistol as a team at the ISSF Cup in Suhl, Germany, in June 2022.
In 2021, the Sidhu brothers impressed everyone by snagging gold and silver at the 64th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) in the junior men’s 25m event. The event wrapped up on a Saturday evening at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges in New Delhi. Competing among 190 shooters, Vijayveer outscored Udhayveer by one point with a total of 587 out of 600.
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