Asian Olympic Qualifiers: Pistol shooters Varun, Esha secure Paris 2024 quotas

JAKARTA: Varun Tomar and Esha Singh won India’s 14th and 15th Paris 2024 Olympic quota places in style, with fantastic wins in the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol respectively, on competition day one of the Asian Olympic Qualification Rifle/Pistol event at the Senayan Shooting, here on Monday.

In a display of dominance, Varun won by a margin of 2.6 and Esha by a whopping 6.8 to deliver virtuoso performances.

India have now secured 15 quota places in shooting for the 2024 Paris Olympics, matching the tally from Tokyo 2020.

While 20-year-old an army marksman Varun, who got into the senior team only last year, Esha is still in her teens. It was a double podium in both the Olympic events for India as Arjun Cheema won silver in the men’s pistol while Rhythm Sangwan won bronze in the women’s competition, displaying India’s continental might in the sport.

Mongolian Davaakhuu Enkhtaivan won bronze in the men’s event to win the second available quota, while Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat’s silver winning performance in the women’s, brought a historic first ever women’s shooting Olympic quota for her country.

Each country could win only one of the two quota places on offer, so Arjun missed out.

Varun had a brilliant day of shooting overall. His score of 586 top the 55-field qualification, was by far his best in international competition and the best he has shot over the past 12 months or so.

"There are always nerves," he accepted when asked about his start in the final where he had just five low to slim 10s for his first 12-shots, compared to seven mid to high ones for the last dozen. “Last year was one my first year in the senior team and after a good start, there was a bit of up and down as I felt I was gaining experience. It is evident that hard work in training pays off," he added.

Esha was the lowest ranked of the three Indians to qualify, with a score of 578 giving her sixth spot. Both Rhythm and Surbhi shot 579 for third and fifth spots.

Rhythm was also the strongest to start the final with a 10.6, which Esha managed in her second. However, it was Kishmala Talat, the Asian Games bronze medalist from Pakistan, who started off the strongest of the eight shooters, logging a 52.4 for her first five shots. Rhythm was second, also managing above 50 while Esha at this stage was third and Surbhi fifth.

The second five-shot series saw three shots of 10.9 from different shooters, but the one on Esha’s sixth propelled her to the lead ahead of Talat.

A 10.8 for her 11th gave early indications of Esha threatening to pull away. Xiu Hong The of Singapore was first to leave after the 12th single shot and after the 18th shot, with Esha 4.3 ahead of her Korean challenger, India’s quota was confirmed as Yu bowed out in fifth.

With Surabhi already eliminated, India’s quest for a second consecutive double podium was confirmed as Rhythm out nerved Korean Kim Bomi after the 20th, to rise up to third. Kishmala had confirmed her quota after a second place finish with 243.1. Esha eventually finished first with 243.1 while Rhythm settled for bronze at 214.5.

“I didn’t know I was that far ahead before you just told me," said Esha, in the post-match interview when quizzed about her massive lead. “I did see some good shots going. think was just too process oriented and kept my mind in my game more than that of others. I must have shot my best-ever final, I’ll have to check," she quipped.

“I am just so thankful to my team here at NRAI and all the support we have been getting. The training has been so well planned and I am just so grateful,” Esha concluded.

Given the two Korean finalists Kim Bomi and Oh Ye Jin were ineligible for quotas, the Indians had to fight it out with Yu Ai Wen of Chinese Taipei and Teh Xiu Hong of Singapore, besides Talat for the one quota on offer to them.

The Indian trio of Varun, Arjun and Ujjwal also won the men’s team gold, as did the women’s team of Esha, Rhythm and Surbhi as India topped the standings at the end of day one with four golds and a total of six medals.

Among the juniors Priyanshu Yadav shot 154.3 to place sixth in the junior men’s air pistol final, after topping the qualifiers with a score of 579. Paras Khola, the second Indian in fray, was ninth overall with 562.