Tamil Nadu shooter Narmada Nithin Raju delivered a historic performance at the National Games 2025, clinching gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event on Thursday, January 30. Competing at the Maharana Pratap Sports College, the 23-year-old shattered the national record with a phenomenal score of 254.4, falling just 0.1 short of the world record.
Raju, a former ISSF World Cup winner, faced stiff competition in the final, which featured Asian Games medallist Ramita Jindal and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan. Despite the high-caliber field, she displayed nerves of steel to claim her maiden National Games gold medal.
Raju outclassed Maharashtra’s Arya Borse, who secured silver with 252.5 points, while Haryana’s Ramita Jindal settled for bronze at 230.4 points. From the very start, the Tamil Nadu shooter consistently registered high scores. She recorded three perfect 10.9s and two 10.8s, ensuring that none of her 24 shots dipped below 10.
Her near-flawless display kept her ahead in the competition, and by the time she took her final shot, she had already cemented her place at the top of the podium. However, she later admitted that she was unaware of how close she had come to breaking the world record of 254.5.
“It’s Not Every Day You Shoot a Score Like That” – Narmada Nithin Raju reflects on her record at the National Games 2025
Narmada Nithin Raju, who had failed to qualify for the finals in the 2022 National Games in Gujarat and finished seventh in Goa in 2023, finally clinched the gold in her third appearance. After the event, she expressed both joy and slight disappointment over the missed world record.
“I wasn’t looking at the scores before I took that final shot. It would have felt good to go past the old record. It’s not every day you shoot a score as high as that,” she told the media.
Even if she would have crossed the world record mark, scores from the National Games do not count as official world records since the event is not conducted under the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).