As their daughter Simranpreet Kaur Brar won the silver medal in the women’s 25m Pistol final at the ISSF World Cup in Lima, Peru, Shaminder Singh Brar and his wife Harcharan Kaur Brar were returning from the holy shrine of Baba Farid, a 13th century sufi saint revered across the region in the Punjab town of Faridkot.
“Three years ago, when I had left my government job to support my daughter Simranpreet’s training and travel needs, I knew Baba Farid would get us through. From the day Simranpreet started shooting, it has been her passion and her being a single child meant that she is our world and both me and my wife could do anything for her,” Shaminder, a former government primary teacher, told The Indian Express.
Simranpreet won her first senior international medal in a field which included three Chinese shooters as well as Paris Olympics double medallist Manu Bhaker (who finished 4th in this discipline) and last World Cup silver medallist and Asian Games silver medallist, Esha Singh.
“To see her winning the silver medal, where a double Olympic medallist Manu too competed, is the reward for all her hard work,” shared the 48-year-old.
It was in 2016 that Shaminder took his daughter to the shooting range at Baba Farid School shooting range at the town to train under the then DSO Aninderveer Kaur. With the region boasting shooters like multiple international medallist Avneet Sidhu, the Brar couple had no hesitation in getting their young daughter a new pistol from their savings. “The likes of Avneet are role models for people in our region. When we initially put Simranpreet into shooting, some of the relatives or known ones would say ‘Why are you putting your daughter in shooting. She can get injured.’ But then our answer would be to look at the example of Avneet ma’am, who is now AIG in Punjab Police.”
Simranjeet Kaur Brar with coach Ankush Bhardwaj. (Credit: Ankush Bhardwaj)
Shaminder got Simranpreet her pistol with Rs 1,60,000 from his savings. “Since that day, we have never hesitated to spend on her training by whatever means we could. That’s what my parents, Gurtek Singh Brar (Late) and Gurmail Kaur, both of whom are teachers, taught us.”
It was in 2017 at the World Cup that a young Simranpreet would also see another Punjab shooter, Heena Sidhu, competing and cultivate her own dream. After winning medals at the nationals and a couple of junior World Cup appearances, Simranpreet won a silver in the 25m Pistol event, an event she first started in 2019 after starting initially in 10m air pistol, at the Asian Junior Championships Changwon, Korea in 2023.
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After competing at the Olympic trials in 25m Pistol event last year, Simranpreet earned her place in the senior shooting team in the trials this year. “After watching Heena Sidhu, I wanted to compete in the 25m Pistol event too. So I asked my father to get me the 25m Pistol. Like always, he did not hesitate. The trigger is heavy in the 25m Pistol as compared to the 10m air pistol, I would dry practice for a long time to adjust my body for that. Later I would train under coaches GD Sharma and Ronak Pandit sir and with time, I now see competing in both the events as almost the same mentally as well physically,” says the 20-year-old.
Simranpreet finished sixth in the qualification round with Manu finishing 2nd and Esha in 9th spot. In the final, the three Chinese shooters Qianxun Yao, Yujie Sun and Pengwan Zu at the first, second and third spot after the first series in the final. At the end of the fourth series, which also decided the first elimination, Simranpreet climbed to third place behind Yao and Sun. Manu, who had to compete in two shoot-offs against Doreen Vennekamp, exited at the fourth spot. Simranpreet’s medal was confirmed and she eventually came a solid second behind Sun.
“When I compete, I only shoot against myself and I was not focusing on what was happening with other finalists. Yes, plenty of shoot-offs meant that we were at rest during those shoot-offs but then that was also challenging. It breaks our rhythm, and my focus was to be in my rhythm,” said Simranpreet.
As for how she will celebrate her win, Simranpreet said she would spend some time on painting, one of her hobbies. “I did not have time to paint. Maybe before going back, I will get some sheets and colours and paint a landscape.”
