Esha wins gold to open India's tally at ISSF China meet
At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre, the 20-year-old from Hyderabad held her nerve to edge out home favourite Yao Qianxun by a margin of just 0.1 point in a tense final
Esha Singh in action during the final
NINGBO: Olympian and reigning mixed team pistol world champion Esha Singh ended India’s medal drought at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol, clinching gold in the women’s 10m air pistol here on Saturday.
At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre, the 20-year-old from Hyderabad held her nerve to edge out home favourite Yao Qianxun by a margin of just 0.1 point in a tense final. Reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin of South Korea finished with bronze.
It was Esha’s first World Cup gold in the individual event, a breakthrough moment in her career, and it lifted India to fifth in the medal standings, joining four other nations with one gold apiece. Hosts China currently lead with two golds, four silvers and a bronze. India have fielded their fourth to sixth ranked shooters in each event at this tournament.
“I am very happy as this is the first event I started with, and to win a World Cup gold in it…I am just glad that some of my goals are being reached,” Esha said after her victory. Looking ahead, she added: “The world championship is the next big one for the year. We are training very hard for it and I am sure you will see very good things from the Indian team in Cairo.”
On her mindset during the final, Esha explained: “I know India had not won a medal yet and that there are great shooters in the field, but I have played many finals against these shooters. I remind myself that the pistol is in my hand and the battle is with me, so I try to enjoy the match as much as possible.”
Esha and teammate Rhythm Sangwan had qualified for the final with identical scores of 578, claiming the last two available spots. Yao topped qualification with 584, while India’s Palak Gulia (competing for ranking points) shot 586. Surbhi Rao finished 25th with 568.
In the eight-shooter final, Rhythm led after the first series but eventually slipped to fifth. Esha, however, grew stronger as the match progressed, producing two crucial 10.7s to hold off Yao’s late surge. She sealed gold with 242.6 points, just ahead of Yao’s 242.5.
In other results, Bhavesh Shekhawat and Pradeep Singh Shekhawat both scored 575 to finish 22nd and 23rd respectively in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol, while Mandeep Singh placed 39th with 562.