Jaypal Malviya: Farmer, late starter wins 10m air pistol silver at World C’ships, books Olympic quota

You can make a list of non-starters for a shooting World Championship medal or even a top-level career in the sport and Jaypal Malviya checks most of them. He is 31 years old, and started pistol shooting only at the age of 26. He is a farmer and has never held any other formal job. He still uses a second-hand pistol because ‘it works well’. He is only participating in his second-ever international competition. According to him, his family still doesn’t know that he is a pistol shooter for the national team and that the best way for them to find out would be to possibly read/watch it on the news someday.

That day is today.

The confluence of all of these factors should not lead to a silver medal at the World Championship, or an Olympic quota for the 2028 LA Olympics. But Malviya bucked the odds in Doha on Thursday, completing an unlikely story that he wouldn’t have been able to predict or envisage even a year back.

A qualification score of 585 with 24 inner tens showed just how locked in the MP shooter was at the start of the day. And then in the final, Malviya struck when it mattered. He was not consistent – barely anyone on the range was. The first indication that a medal was coming came in the four shots from shot numbers 13-16 of the final. Malviya aced the moment, hitting four 10s in a row (10.6, 10.2, 10.7 and 10.8). He added another two shots in the ten-ring to ensure that the quota was going to be his.

Malviya had the chance to go for gold at one point as well with eventual champion Kai Hu hitting an uncharacteristic 8.4. But his first event of the World Championships ended with a memorable silver medal draped over his neck.

Before taking only his second-ever international flight to Qatar’s capital for the World Championships, Malviya took part in five national trials and vanquished established acts like Paris Olympics bronze medalist Sarabjot Singh and 2025 World Championship gold medallist Samrat Rana. On Thursday, he showed little consideration to his lack of elite level experience — a factor that has felled younger Indians at these Worlds — and shot a score of 242.9 to finish second at the men’s 10m Air Rifle event.

Hailing from Chandan village of the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, Malviya initially started using a rifle through the NCC programme. But it was a seasonal hobby at the time and when the Covid 19 pandemic hit, Malviya transitioned to a pistol.

“The rifle I would use for competitions was open sighted. It’s the same case for a pistol. The only difference is that the barrel of the rifle is long. Once I realised my stability using a pistol was good, I made the switch,” said Malviya before flying out for the World Championships.

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“At that time, there was no coach but I qualified for the state level. Then I qualified for pre-national level,” he added.

Self-coached in pistol until he reached the state level, Malviya’s lonely journey finally got some company in 2023 when Dharmendra Dudi, a coach at the Bhopal Shooting Academy took him in and started giving him some basic tips.

From that point on Malviya, who still was shooting seasonally, did a six-week course at the Dr Karni Singh range.

“Till now I’d only heard coaches give me advice. Doing the course, I felt like good coaches could finally look at my technique and tell me how to improve,” Malviya said.

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Then came the national trials. The rankings continued to increase, and he found himself a spot in India’s B team. Soon the bit-part B player made it to the A team. One problem though – he was still using the first-ever pistol he had purchased.

“I bought my first pistol in 2021. It was a second-hand Walther for Rs 1,05,000. I still use it because it works well. When it needs fixing, I get it repaired through Walther.”

Some of the money that he made came from farming – soybean, corn and then wheat for a few months. The rest came from a lie to his family – he told them he needed money for PSU coaching.

He instead purchased a pistol.

“I was 26 at the time. If you start trying to do something at that age, no one will support you. They would have told me to not get stuck in all of this and get a job instead, or that this was the age to get married.”

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Even the people at the MP shooting range weren’t supportive.

“‘Tum deewar pe sarr patak rahe ho. (You’re banging your head against a wall)’ they would say,” said Malviya.

On Thursday, Malviya showed the same bravery that he has for the past few years. He ignored the naysayers and simply focused on his target.