Sift quit MBBS to pursue her passion. She was an MBBS student at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital in Faridkot and is now pursuing her graduation at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
India’s latest shooting sensation Faridkot’s Sift Kaur Samra created history by breaking the world record on her way to winning gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3 position event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Back home, the 22-year-old’s excited parents watched their daughter create history and it was enough for them to break into celebrations.
Messages poured in from several dignitaries as Sift’s father Pawandeep Singh Samra recalled the risk the family took so that their daughter could continue shooting.
Sift quit MBBS to pursue her passion. She was an MBBS student at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital in Faridkot and is now pursuing her graduation at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
“It was getting difficult to balance MBBS studies with shooting. So, it was a joint decision to let her pursue her passion, Pawandeep said, amid receiving guests at his house who had come to celebrate his daughter’s achievement.
Pawandeep, who owns a rice shelling unit, said she was on the verge of quitting the sport in 2022 but national championships in Bhopal changed everything. Sift created a national record and we gave her the leeway to continue with her passion.
“Picking up shooting when she was in class 9 it did not come naturally. Our family had no connection with guns until she (Sift) started shooting in 2017. I had to learn about the game after she got inspired by the son of one of his friends, who was a professional shooter. We made sure that Sift did not feel a shortage of anything during her practice at Faridkot,” he said. Sift has been training at the Sector 25 Shooting Range in Chandigarh under coach Vikas Sharma since 2018.
Just after a year of taking up the sport, Sift clinched a silver medal in the 50m under-19 individual event at the National School Games in 2018. In 2019 she won three medals including silver in the National Shooting Championship held at Kerala in three different categories of junior groups.
In March this year, Sift won a bronze medal in the ISSF World Cup and later in August, she claimed a quota spot for the 2024 Paris Olympics after a fifth-place finish at the World Championships in Baku.
“She will go to South Korea in October for her next competition. She now wants to win a medal for the country at the Olympics,” Sift’s father added.
Sift’s mother Ramneek Kaur said, “This is a proud moment for me that my daughter has won gold in the Asian Games. The best moment was when we saw her standing on the podium and the national anthem was played. Yesterday, she was talking about some problem with her shoulder but her determination and focus got her the medal with a world record score,” she added.
Punjab sports minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer in a post on X (formerly Twitter) congratulated the shooter. “It is a proud moment that a Faridkot’s Sift Kaur Samra has won Gold for India at Asian Games. Congratulations to her,” Hayer said on X.
Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Sandhwan said, “Sift has made Faridkot proud in the world by winning gold medal in the Asian Games.”
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said Sift has made us all proud by bagging the gold medal by smashing the world record. “I offer this Faridkot girl heartiest congratulations and wish her even greater success in the years to come,” he added.
