Sigra-Trained Shooter Kamaljeet Wins Asian Games Gold in Mixed Air Pistol

Kamaljeet, a pistol shooter who trains at the Sports Authority of India's National Centre of Excellence at Sigra stadium in Varanasi, won gold for India in the mixed team 10m air pistol event at the 20th Asian Games on Friday. For the Sigra centre, which opened only a few months ago, it is its first Asian Games gold.

Kamaljeet, who is from Haryana, shot the event with Suruchi Inder Singh. The pair scored 484.6 and finished ahead of the teams from the Republic of Korea and Iran, according to Shubhanshu Dwivedi, deputy director of SAI NCOE Sigra. The Games are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

The news set off celebrations at the Sigra centre on Friday.

Kamaljeet competes in the senior men's 10m air pistol category. According to Dwivedi, he was inducted into SAI NCOE Sigra on 7 July 2026. That means he had been training in Varanasi for under three months when he left for Japan.

The centre itself started at Sigra stadium about four months ago. Friday's result is the first time a shooter from the Varanasi centre has won Asian Games gold.

Dwivedi said Kamaljeet has represented India at several major international competitions. He listed a silver medal at the 2025 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship, an appearance at the junior world championship in 2023, and participation in the ISSF World Cup held in Hangzhou, China, from 18 to 29 July this year.

"Kamaljeet will be given a grand welcome when he returns to Varanasi," Dwivedi said.

He said the result had fired up the other athletes at the centre too. The Sigra NCOE also trains boxers, wrestlers and fencers, and Dwivedi said all of them were in a different mood on Friday. He said the medal would stand as a landmark for SAI NCOE Varanasi.

The gold is the second that Indian shooters have won at these Games.

In the mixed team air pistol event, each country fields one man and one woman, and their combined scores decide the medals. Kamaljeet and Suruchi's total of 484.6 put them ahead of the Korean and Iranian pairs.

For Varanasi, the win has a local angle that goes beyond one medal. Sigra stadium is also being redeveloped. At a review meeting of municipal works this week, Varanasi Municipal Corporation officials ordered a ₹10 lakh penalty on the executing agency for delays in the stadium construction and gave it a month to finish. The NCOE's athletes have kept training at the complex while that work goes on.

The centre has not yet said when Kamaljeet will be back in Varanasi. When he does return, he comes back as the first Asian Games gold medallist to have trained at the Sigra NCOE.