Asian Games 2023: Esha Singh of India took home the silver medal in the women's 25-meter pistol competition, although Manu Bhaker did not medal despite winning the qualification competition. This was India's sixth shooting medal from the Hangzhou Games.
- Esha Singh scored 34 points to take silver in the women's 25m pistol.
- Manu Bhaker won the qualifier, however he placed fifth in the final.
- At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, it was India's 11th medal in the shooting competition.
Esha Singh of India took home the silver medal in the women's 25m pistol competition on September 27 at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. Manu Bhaker, who won the qualifier and was the favourite to win a medal, was let down when he placed fifth in the final.
Esha Singh, 18, came in fourth place with 34 points in the women's 25m pistol final, 4 points behind Liu Rui of China, who set a new Games record with 38 points. With 29 points, Yang Jiin of Korea took third place. Manu Bhaker was the fourth shooter to be eliminated in the final, and she finished fifth with 21 points.
Esha struggled in the first two series with a 2 and a 3, but she finished strong with 3 flawless sets to win the silver.
The judges had to examine the target and the backup target to determine whether the Korean shooter had missed the target or whether the shot simply failed to register, which caused an unusually long wait in the final.
Esha Singh's silver in the women's 25m pistol event gives India a total of 11, surpassing its previous record of nine from the Jakarta Games. Additionally, it was India's sixth shooting medal on Wednesday.
Esha Singh was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, on January 1, 2005. She is an amateur shooter from India.In 2018, she won the title of national champion in the 10m Air Pistol division. She won two gold medals in the Asian Junior Championships in the Individual and Mixed Team events, as well as a silver medal at the Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany in 2019. Her father competed in rallies. Singh attempted go-karting, badminton, tennis, and skating before deciding to take up shooting. She decided on an air pistol after going to the shooting range at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad. She exercised concurrently at the stadium and at her house on her father's paper practise range. Later, she enrolled in the Gun for Glory academy founded by former Olympic medalist.
Esha started shooting in 2014, and in 2015 she won the 10m air pistol state championship for Telangana. By winning gold in the 10m Air Pistol event at the 62nd National Shooting Championships in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Esha, a 13-year-old, overcame multi-medalist Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker, both of whom had won gold at the Youth Olympics and the Commonwealth Games. She also took home gold in the junior and youth divisions.
