Let's learn more about Aishwary, the 22-year-old from Madhya Pradesh who has already earned two medals for India at the Hangzhou Asian Games
India began its second day at the Asian Games 2023 with a bang, bagging its first gold medal of the competition via the men's 10m air rifle team of Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. In the process, the trio also recorded a new world record. Later, Aishwary won another medal in the same category, winning bronze in the individual event. (Full Coverage | Medal Tally | Day 2 Blog)
Let's learn more about Aishwary, the youngster who has already earned two medals for the country at this edition of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The 22-year-old Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar hails from Ratanpur village in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh. Born in a Rajput family of farmers, Aishwary is the youngest of three children.
As a kid, he often went hunting with his father Veer Bahadur, a landlord, and learnt about the sport of shooting from his cousin Navdeep Singh Rathore. Aishwary eventually started to receive training in 2015 at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal.
He started showing results at the international level in 2019, when Aishwary won the bronze medal at the Asian Airgun Championships in the junior 10m air rifle event. The same year, at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Aishwary won the gold medal and set the junior World record by scoring 459.3 in the 50m 3P event.
Aishwary also participated in the 2020 Olympics after securing a quota via the Asian Championships in 2019. He bagged gold medal at the 2021 ISSF World Cup event in New Delhi with a score of 462.5 in men's 50m 3P. He also clinched gold in 50m 3P men's event with a new junior world record at the 2021 ISSF Junior World Championships held in Lima, Peru.
Most recently, the 22-year-old won gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo in February in the 50m 3P men's event. The youngster has a special liking for this category, where he would be gunning for gold at the Asian Games later this week, and has a bright future ahead of him.