Indian shooter Niraj Kumar clinched the bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event at the ISSF World Championship in Doha on Wednesday, November 11, securing India's first rifle quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, news agency IANS reported.

Source: IANS via AsiaPost

Niraj scored 346.5 in the final to finish third, behind gold medallist Dmitrii Pimenov, an Individual Neutral Athlete, who set a junior world record of 362.8, and Slovakia's Patrik Jany, who took silver with 357.2, according to ANI.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

346.5Niraj Kumar's final score
362.8Pimenov's junior world record (gold)
591Niraj's qualification score — he topped qualifying
2India's shooting quotas for LA 2028 so far

The bronze is Niraj's first individual medal at a World Championship. He had topped the qualification round with 591 out of 600. Because Jany had already secured a quota in the men's 10m air rifle and an athlete can win only one quota place for their country, the rifle 3 positions quota passed to India through Niraj's podium finish.

This is India's second shooting quota of the championship, after Jaypal Malviya won silver in the men's 10m air pistol last week to book the country's first LA 2028 quota. Niraj's medal also took India's tally at the Doha championship to 10 medals — 2 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze — second behind China, The Bridge reported.

Source: The Bridge

The quota place belongs to the country, not to Niraj personally — India's shooting federation will decide through its selection process which shooter fills the place at Los Angeles 2028. The event holds a special place for India: Swapnil Kusale won bronze in the same men's 50m rifle 3 positions event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.