Earlier this week in Cairo, Esha Singh was placed fourth and was in medal contention in the women’s 10m air pistol final in the ISSF World Championships. A 10.7 on her 15th shot meant that she was in contention for the medal but an 8.4 meant that the Telangana shooter was eliminated at sixth place. On Friday, on her way to becoming the first Indian woman to win a World Championships medal in the women’s 25m pistol final, Esha banished those thoughts to the back of her mind.
“Such things happen in shooting and there will be times things will not be in your favour on a particular day or a particular shot. I had won my first World Junior Championship title at this very range in 2022, so had good memories of this venue. So once the 10m air pistol final ended, my focus was on the mixed team event as well as the 25m pistol event. I am glad to win my first senior World Championship medal here at this range where I love to shoot,” Esha told The Indian Express from Cairo. She won the bronze with Paris Olympics champion Yang Jiin of Korea and world number 2 Qianxun Yao of China winning the gold and silver. Paris Olympics double-medallist Manu Bhaker finished fifth after a shoot-off.
In a solid year where she has won two World Cup medals, Esha capped it off with an individual Worlds medal in the 25m pistol, an event which sees participants shoot precision as well as rapid stages in qualification and then rapid series in the final. She had become the national champion in 10m air pistol in 2018 at 13 and had won the silver medal at Asian Games in 10m air pistol. At the Paris Olympics, she competed in the 25m pistol where she finished 18th while Bhaker finished fourth, missing the medal by a whisker. Earlier this year, Esha also started training under Bhaker’s coach Jaspal Rana, along with training under high-performance director Ronak Pandit.
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“At Paris Olympics too, when Esha finished 18th, she understood that it was her first Olympics. She shot a 100 in the precision stage and even though she did not make it to the final, she knew that she loves competing in both 10m air pistol as well 25m pistol events. And the silver in 25m air pistol in Buenos Aires World Cup, along with the title in the 10m air pistol final in Ningbo World Cup, meant that she was once again in a good rhythm,” says father Sachin Singh.
“To shoot among the Olympic medallists like Jinn and Manu acts as a confidence boost too and I saw the final as an opportunity to be among the world’s best. I had been working on some things in the 25m pistol in recent months and while there are still some things where I need to work, the pressure of today’s final was something I cherished too,” Esha, who had to come through a mid-final shootoff that involved Bhaker and Mathilde Lamolle, added.
Esha will be competing in next month’s World Cup Final in the 25m pistol event in Doha. Samresh Jung, chief pistol coach of the Indian team, believes managing the workload of both events as well as consistency will be the key for Esha. “Yes, it was a very good field here and the competition was tough. Both Manu and Esha shot well except for th 1-2 series, which went bad and that can happen. The key for a shooter is to manage both the events and the precision in air pistol also complements the 25m pistol, and that’s what Esha has shown. This medal will boost her confidence a lot and help us get used to the idea of winning Worlds medals,” Jung, chief pistol coach of the Indian team, said.
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