Chandigarh’s Mahit claims Deaflympics shooting gold; sets new record

Chandigarh’s shooter Mahit Sandhu (21), who was born with hearing loss, has bagged gold in the 50m “rifle 3 positions” category — her fourth medal, at the Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo. Mahit totalled 456.0 after 45 shots to bag her second gold of the games. South Korea’s Dain Jeong took silver with 453.5, while Hungary’s Mira Zsuzsanna Biatovszki claimed bronze with 438.6.

Mahit also broke both the deaf qualification world record and the deaflympics world record on her way to the final. She topped the qualification round with 585-31 (scoring 194 in kneeling, 198 in prone and 193 in standing) breaking her own previous mark of 576 set at last year’s world deaf shooting championship in Hannover. In the final, Mahit led the field through the kneeling, prone and the first 10 standing shots. A 9.4 on her 41st shot briefly handed the advantage to Jeong, who hit a 10.1, but Mahit staged a composed comeback, producing four successive 10s to seal the title.

“Her father is very fond of shooting, and one of cousins is a shot-gun expert. Her love for shooting developed from her father Paveet Singh and later guided to achieving medals by coach DS Chandel,” said Ikreet Sandhu, mother of Mahit, as the shooter recovered after winning the gold medal.

Her mother said Mahit had won medals while competing among the normal shooters, which gave her confidence to bag a rich bag of medals in the Summer Deaflympics. “She is hearing impaired by birth, and takes help of hearing aid. However, she never let this pull her back. She works very hard, and takes full advantage of the guidance she gets. I hope with this achievement, the UT Administration also recognises her past and current achievements,” she added.

A short span

Mahit, who did her schooling from Vivek High School, is now pursuing her studies from MCM DAV College, Sector 36. She has won many accolades in shooting, after taking the sport professionally in 2019, with practicing 10m air rifle, 50m prone and 50m rifle (3P). She was top ranked in the junior category, and currently holds the 3rd overall best (in general category). She represented the nation in the 16th Asian Shooting Championship Kazakhstan 2025 and ended with a 50m 3p women (team) gold medal. She also represented Indian in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl (Germany and New Delhi).

In the 2nd World Deaf Shooting Championship Hanover Germany (2024), she won three gold medals and one silver. In the ongoing Deaflympics, she won a silver medal in the 10m Air Rifle, and gold in the 10m mixed team (with Dhanush Srikant). In the women’s 50m prone, the young shooter won silver medal, before winning today’s gold medal.

“He father wants her to adopt a sport professionally, but we never thought of shooting. After we decided she must get professional training, she is pretty much involved in the sport now,” added Ikreet.