New Delhi: World No.1 Esha Singh survived four shoot-offs before succumbing on the fifth to win a silver in the 25m pistol event at the General Shooting Gallery in Aichi on Monday, bringing much-needed cheer to the shooting contingent.
The 21-year-old lost the second gold medal shoot-off to China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan, matching her result from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. A 2021 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and a 2022 world champion, Xiao shot with sublime calm throughout the final, patiently waiting for her turn while Esha and North Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk engaged themselves in three shoot-offs. Esha edged out Kim after a lengthy stoppage by range officials and stretched Xiao to two shoot-offs to secure her second consecutive Asiad podium.
Shooting from Firing Point C, Esha started with a perfect 5/5 in her opening series to take the early lead followed by North Korea’s Kim and China’s Shang Kaiyan. She nailed four of the next five and maintained the lead but managed just three hits in the next series to concede her top position to Xiao Jiaruixuan.
The Chinese proved impossible to dislodge from her perch thereafter even though Esha and Kim tried their best to keep up. Esha crept up to joint lead after the fourth series, with both she and Xiao nailing 16 hits each.
{{/usCountry}}The Chinese proved impossible to dislodge from her perch thereafter even though Esha and Kim tried their best to keep up. Esha crept up to joint lead after the fourth series, with both she and Xiao nailing 16 hits each.
{{/usCountry}}The North Korean then hit all five while Esha and Xiao missed one shot each, which brought all three level at the top. Esha dropped to third after missing two shots in the sixth series while Xiao and Kim took the top two spots. She dropped outside the medal bracket with a poor series to total 26, two shots behind Vietnam’s Trinh Thu Vinh and Xiao.
It looked like another disappointing outing for the shooters but Esha survived the elimination series with a perfect 5/5 under pressure to get inside the top three and assure India of the medal, a solitary point behind Xiao and Kim.
Esha and Kim were tied at 34 after the sixth series, forcing a shoot off. Both got three hits apiece to force another shoot-off. It looked going Esha’s way who held a one-shot advantage over Kim with a shot to go when the match was stopped. When the proceedings commenced, Esha missed while Kim hit to draw level and force another shoot-off.
Another stoppage by technical officials followed but Esha got three hits against Kim’s two to get into the final two, trailing Xiao by a point going into the final five. Esha and Xiao were tied at 38 hits after the series to force a gold medal shoot-off. Both shooters got four hits to force another shoot-off where the Indian came up short by one hit.
Earlier, Esha qualified for the eight-shooter final in the eight spot with 580 hits while Manu Bhaker and 2018 Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat failed to make the cut. Manu was 11th while Rahi ended 30th, which also meant that India drew a blank in the team standings.
Having won an individual bronze at the 2025 World Championships and 2026 Asian Championships and gold medals at the Munich and Hangzhou World Cups, Esha was among India’s best bets at the Games, and a medal at the end of the day justified her top billing.