Record 16,000 plus shooters qualify for 68th National Shooting Championship 

Khek Today Bureau

New Delhi: The 68^th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) got underway here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range, with a record 16,000 plus shooters qualifying to participate across categories in rifle, pistol and shotgun events.

The NSCC traditionally heralds the beginning of a new season for Indian shooting and Group 5 Trap qualifiers in the Shotgun discipline were the first to fire. The previous 67^th NSCC saw 13,522 shooters qualify. All top Indian shooters have entered the fray and the schedule, spread over one month, has been finalized, keeping in mind the ISSF World Cup Finals, which will take place in Doha between Dec 04-09 and where 15 Indians have qualified to compete.

Along with Shotgun, the Pistol events will also be conducted at the Karni Singh Ranges while the Rifle events will be held at Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy in Bhopal.

The Pistol events will begin on 11^th December and will run until 4^th January, 2026, while the Rifle events will also start on 11^th December and conclude on 2^nd January, 2026. The Shotgun nationals will run throughout December and conclude on 5^th January, 2026.

The competitions will be conducted in seven categories including Super Masters (70 years and above). Senior Masters (60-70 years), Masters (45-60 years), Seniors (Open), Juniors (21 years), Youth (19 years or before), Sub-Youth (16 years or before) in all three disciplines. Regardless of the category or categories under which the shooters have registered, each athlete is permitted to shoot only once throughout the competition but their scores will be counted towards any other category they have registered. The competition will also feature dedicated categories for Para-athletes and Deaf athletes.

The athletes who took part in the 66^th and 67^th NSCC, Zonal Championships 2025, 34^th G.V Mavlankar Shooting Championship 2025, India Open Competitions 2025 and 27^th All India Kumar Surendra Singh Shooting Championships 2025 and have achieved qualifying scores as per Rule 17.6 of NRAI Match Book are allowed to participated in the 68^th NSCC.

All top shooters of the country will be participating in the nationals, whose scores will be counted when the Indian team for the 2026 international season is picked. A total of 40 teams will be represented at the nationals, including almost all states and union territories as well as those representing the armed forces of the country and public institutions like the ONGC and the Railways.

The Women and Junior Women Skeet finals will be held on 13^th December and the Men and Junior Men finals will be held on 16^th December. The mixed team events for both seniors and juniors will be held on 17^th December.

In Trap, the finals for Women, Junior Women and Junior Men will be held on 29^th December and the Men’s final will be held on 2^nd January, 2026. The mixed team finals will be held on 3^rd January, 2026 and the Shotgun events will come to a conclusion on 5^th January, 2026 with the double trap events.

The Pistol events will kick-start on 11^th December with the qualification rounds of the 10m Air Pistol and 25m Sports events. The finals of the 25m Pistol event will be held on 15^th December and the 10m Air Pistol finals will be held on 18^th December.

The 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s qualification will start on 23^rd December and finals will be held on 26^th December. The qualifying rounds of the men’s 10m Air Pistol will start on 20^th December and will go on until 4^th January, 2026, with the finals scheduled on the same day.

The 10m Mixed Team finals will be held on 19^th December. Finals will be conducted only for the Olympic events and the non-Olympic medals will be decided based on the qualification rounds.

The Rifle Nationals commence in Bhopal on 11^th December, with the qualification rounds of the men’s 10m Air Rifle Men and 50m Rifle 3Positions Men events. The finals of the 50m Rifle 3P will be held on 16^th December and the 10m Air Rifle finals will be held on 22^nd December, after a marathon qualifying round which includes 51 relays.

The mixed team finals will be held on 23^rd December. The qualifying rounds of 50m Rifle 3P Women will start on 24^th December and the 10m Air Rifle Women event will start on Christmas day. The finals of 50m 3P will be held on 27^th December and after another 40-relay qualification, the finals of the 10m Rifle Women will be held on 2^nd January, 2026.

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