Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar Wiki, Height, Age, Family, Biography & More

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar is an Indian air rifle shooter. In 2019, he received the prestigious Eklavya Award by the Government of Madhya Pradesh (given by the State Government to the Junior Athletes).

Wiki/Biography

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar was born on Saturday, 3 February 2001 (age 20 years; as of 2021) in Ratanpur village, Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Aquarius. He developed an interest in shooting after watching the shooting matches of his cousin brother Navdeep Singh Rathore who is also an international shooter and his mentor.

He then started his professional training in shooting under Vaibhav Sharma at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal in 2015.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 8″

Eye Colour: Black

Hair Colour: Black

Family

His father, Veer Bahadur Singh, works as a farmer. His mother’s name is Hema Tomar. Aishwary has two elder sisters, Tanvi Ajit Singh Kushwah and Apurva Tomar.

Caste

He was born in a Hindu Rajput family.

Career

In 2015, he was suspended from his first nationals due to some technical reasons, and he waited for a year to participate in a shooting match at the national level. In an interview, while talking about it, he said,

A butt plate was 1 cm below the permitted level and due to this technical reason, I was suspended. I had to start from scratch, play state level, then pre-national, and then nationals. It was the toughest period. When I was selected in the trials for the MP Shooting Academy, I knew that I had to stay away from my family. It was tough initially but I made it a point to visit the village at festivals. And I also make it a point to go to the Navgrah fair.”

During an interview, while talking about Aishwary, his coach Vaibhav said,

He came to the academy in 2015. He joined a summer camp in Bhopal. He was inspired by his brother who himself is a shooter. His began his basics in 2015. He started with 10m and then we saw he is picking up well and performing, he started taking part in 50m events as well. If you were watching him live, when he clinched the medal, there was zero reaction from him, no expressions on his face as this is his nature. This is the reason why he is doing well. He is calm, happy but untouched by success. He relishes this sport.”

Aishwary has participated in various shooting competitions at the national and the international levels like ISSF World Cup and Olympics. He has won many medals for India in 10-metre air rifle and 50-metre air rifle three positions events at the junior and senior levels. In 2021, he was ranked No. 2 in shooting by the ISSF.  He did his training under various shooting coaches including his personal coach Vaibhav Sharma, and his national coach Suma Shirur.

He has represented India in air rifle events like AR60, FR3X40, R3X40MIX, and ARTEAMM. In 2021, he was selected in the Olympics quota to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The event was postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Records

• In 2018, he made a national record at the junior level by scoring 1173 points in the 50m rifle three-prone position event at the International Meeting of Shooting Hopes in the Czech Republic.

• In 2019, he set a world record by scoring 459.3 and breaking the record of Filip Nepejchal of the Czech Republic who had shot 458.7 in the Beijing World Cup 2019.

Medals

Gold

• 2019: ISSF Junior World Cup in the 50m rifle 3 positions event in Suhl

• 2021: ISSF World Cup in the 50m rifle 3 positions event in New Delhi

Silver

• 2021: ISSF World Cup in the 10m air rifle men’s team in New Delhi

Bronze

• 2019: Asian Shooting Championships in the 50m rifle 3 positions event in Doha

• 2019: Asian Shooting Championships in the 50m rifle 3 positions team in Doha

• 2019: Asian Airgun Championship in the Junior 10m air rifle event in Taoyuan

• 2021: ISSF World Cup in the 50m rifle 3 positions mixed team event in New Delhi

Award

Aishwary received the Arjuna Award from the President of India Droupadi Murmu on 9 January 2024; the event was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Facts/Trivia

• In an interview, when he was asked what inspired him to start shooting professionally, he replied,
  

  I joined shooting inspired by my cousin Navdeep Singh Rathod. They are also shooters. He got admission to Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy. I have been practising there since 2015. First year I got selected for Nationals, but I got disqualified. After that I had to wait for a year for the Nationals. Won the National Championship in 2016. 2017-18 hasn’t been much better for me. In 2019, there was a selection in the junior team. Created a record in the World Cup and won gold medals. Then reached the top-5 of senior.”

• His father had a keen interest in shooting in his childhood, but he could not pursue it as a career. In an interview, while talking about the same, his father said,
  

  Being a landlord (of 50 acres of land), I own more than three guns and we would often go hunting when Aishwary was young. There was nobody to tell me to take up shooting competitively when I was young. But now that I’ve seen Aishwary grow up to become the junior world champion, it feels that I have become the world champion too.”

• In 2019, he received the Eklavya Award from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for his achievements in shooting.

  Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar receiving the Eklavya Award

• In an interview, while talking about Aishwary, his national coach Suma Shirur said,
  

  Aishwary’s biggest strength has been his focus and it helped me to coach him when I joined the academy. We would work a lot on his basics and he would always show his eagerness to compete in all three events, which is good for a young shooter. 3P requires a lot of stamina since it goes for more than three hours. But Aishwary would never hesitate to train extra for the event.”

• Aishwary loves cycling and playing cricket in his leisure time.

  Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar while cycling

• During an interview, he shared how he prepared during the lockdown for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He said,
  

  I practice in Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy. During the lockdown, I went home and focused on my fitness with the help of Manav Rachna Academy. I didn’t even have a bullet and a rifle. State Sports Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia got me the rifle because of the special permission. I did dry training. As soon as the situation returned to normal after the lockdown and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) got permission to practice, I came to the academy and started practicing. There should be no problem in preparing for the World Cup and Olympics, so I also ordered new equipment.”

• In an interview, Aishwary shared that earlier people used to make fun of his name. He said,
  

  I have been called Aishwarya Rai a lot, today it was Akshay Kumar! Pata nahi kya chal raha hai! I had to show them my shooter’s ID, wahan bhi naam galat tha! Thankfully, all this is past me.”