Esha Singh came within one shot of Asian Games gold, but her silver medal was forged through one of the most demanding finals of her young career. The 21-year-old Hyderabad shooter survived a succession of shoot-offs before eventually being edged out by China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan in the women’s 25m pistol final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday.
Singh and Xiao finished the regulation final tied at 38 hits, setting up a gold-medal shoot-off. After multiple eliminations earlier in the final, Singh had already spent considerable physical and mental energy just to reach the title contest. In the decisive exchange, Xiao held her nerve to win 4+3 against Singh’s 4+2, securing gold while the Indian settled for silver. For Singh, however, the route to the podium was anything but straightforward.
The Indian shooter had to negotiate five shoot-offs during the final, first fighting her way into medal contention and then surviving another round to earn the opportunity to challenge Xiao for gold. Singh had been level with North Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk on 34 hits, with the Indian eventually prevailing to book her place in the gold-medal contest. Kim subsequently took bronze with 34 hits.
“Yes, I was under pressure and this is the longest match of my career so far. My arms were aching at the end of it,” Singh said after the final. The silver also adds another major Asian Games medal to Singh’s growing international résumé. The ISSF lists her as the current world No. 1 in women’s 25m pistol, while she also holds the senior and junior world records after producing 43 hits to win gold at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in May.
That Munich performance underlined just how rapidly Singh has established herself among the leading names in the event. She followed it with another 25m pistol World Cup victory in Hangzhou in July, where she finished with 40 hits and won gold ahead of China’s Zhang Yueyue. Monday’s medal therefore represents another significant addition to a season in which Singh has repeatedly delivered on the international stage.
For India, the event also carried disappointment elsewhere. Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker failed to make the eight-shooter final after scoring 579 in qualification and finishing 11th. Singh, meanwhile, entered the final with 580. Bhaker had also missed out on a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol earlier in the Games.
India’s hopes in the women’s 25m pistol team competition also faded after Rahi Sarnobat endured a difficult fourth series. She eventually finished 30th with 568, while India’s team ended fifth with 1727-56x, outside the medal positions. China won the team gold with 1743-68x. “This is the first time that something like this has happened in my career and I do not know how it happened,” Sarnobat said.
Esha Singh’s medal was not simply the result of being in the right place at the right time. It came after a prolonged battle in which the Hyderabad shooter repeatedly found a way through the elimination rounds and remained in contention until the final shot. The gold slipped away by the narrowest of margins, but Singh’s Asian Games campaign once again demonstrated her ability to compete deep into major finals.
With a world record, multiple World Cup titles and now another Asian Games medal already on her résumé, the 21-year-old’s trajectory continues to make her one of the central figures in India’s next generation of elite shooting.
