© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Seven years after she won her maiden national title in 10m air pistol by edging out Manu Bhaker at the mere age of 13, Asian Games 25m pistol medallist Esha Singh won her first World Cup gold medal in the 10m air pistol final at the ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, China on Saturday.
In the eight-shooter final consisting of Paris Olympics 10m pistol champion Yejin Oh of Korea, Paris Olympics 25m pistol bronze medallist Veronica Major of Hungary, Paris Olympics 10m air pistol mixed team gold medallist Zorana Arunovic of Serbia and World number 2 Qianxun Yao of China, Singh held her nerves to edge out Yao by 0.1 points for the gold in the final.
The 20-year-old, who started training under national coach Jaspal Rana five months ago, would get on a call with him after the final and share her thought process in the elite final.
“Yes, it acts as motivation for myself to compete among such shooters but then I also understand that I have to fight for myself and my scores. In the end, it’s my pistol which shall do the talking and that’s the only thing which plays in my head. It all depends on myself and that’s what coach Jaspal Rana too had instilled in me in recent months,” shared Singh while talking to The Indian Express.
The Hyderabad shooter, who first burst onto the international scene with her junior Asian title in the 10m air pistol final in 2019, performed splendidly in the international circuit in 2022 and 2023.
Singh came alive at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, winning the silver medal in the 25m pistol as well as the 10m event. Her 25m medal had come in a field consisting of eventual Paris Olympics 25m pistol champion Yang ji-in of Korea and Manu Bhaker. In the 10m pistol final, Singh would lose the gold against fellow Indian Palak Gulia.
The Hyderabad shooter then earned a spot as a 25m pistol shooter for the Paris Olympics with an average rating score of 584.08, edging out Rhythm Sangwan at the end of the national trials. Despite finishing 18th in Paris, she has started to regain her form in the 25m pistol, an event she started competing in just three years ago.
Singh won the silver medal in the 25m pistol final in ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina early this year.
“When I started competing in 25m pistol events at domestic as well international events, my thought was to achieve a balance in both. Prior to the Paris Olympics trials, my form in the 25m pistol was very good and even though I wanted to compete in both the events in the Olympics, it was not the case and the Paris Olympics experience too taught me a lot of things,” said Singh.
On Saturday, she bagged the eighth qualification spot with compatriot Palak Gulia at the top and fifth placed Yiling Chen of China competing in the RPO.
At the end of the second series, she had a score of 101.1. In the elimination stage, Singh maintained her top spot till the last elimination shot with Yao falling just 0.1 short of her eventually. Singh shot eight shots of 10.5 or more in the final including five such shots in the elimination stage to win gold.
“I had been working on some things in the 10m air pistol for some time and fine-tuning some things, which did not suit me earlier including some adjustments in terms of hand eye coordination as well covering some points in basics too. And it has helped me,” shared Singh.
Coach Jaspal Rana believes working on her basics as well having the belief on her execution of what she has trained, has benefitted her.
“When I had trained Esha as a junior, in 2019, I was impressed with the calmness with which she shot. And in recent months, my focus was to go to the basics and to find out the mistakes and start all over again, And Esha has been eager to start over again too. I have always believed that a shooter should take his/her own decisions at that particular moment in matches and I am glad Esha is doing that,” said Rana.
As for Singh, the belief is that she can medal at both events but the 25m pistol remains her favourite. “It’s not that I like one more or one less. But If one asks my preference, then I would say 25m pistol since it’s a little more fast paced,” concludes Singh.
