Esha nails women’s air pistol gold to end India’s medal drought in style

Esha Singh in action.

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Olympian and reigning mixed team pistol world champion Esha Singh, ended India’s medal drought at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Ningbo, China, in style, bagging gold in the women’s 10m air pistol, leaving home favourite and in-form Yao Qianxun 0.1 behind in the final at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre on Saturday (Sep 13, 2025) morning. Reigning Olympic champion in the event, Oh Yejin of Korea, had to settle for bronze.

Thrilled with winning a first-ever world cup gold in the event, Esha said after the final, “I am very happy as air is the first event that I started with and to win a world cup gold in it…I am just happy that some of my goals are being reached.” Also speaking on the next challenges ahead she said, “Yes obviously the world championship is the next big one for the year. We are training very hard for it and I am sure you will see very good things from the Indian team in Cairo.”

She also spoke about her final mindset saying, “Yes I am aware of things like India has not won a medal yet and that there are great shooters in the field, but I have played many finals against these guys and its them all the time so I now know that the pistol is in my hand and the battle is with me so I try to enjoy the match as much as possible.”

Morning did not show the day in this case two Indians, Esha and Rhythm Sangwan, made the women’s air pistol final, clinching the final two available berths with scores of 578 each. Yao, who has medaled in all the world cups as well as the Asian Championship this year, topped the field with a 584. In-fact, reigning Asian Games champ Palak Gulia of India playing for ranking points only, shot an impressive 586 to even better Yao and her in-contention compatriots. Surbhi Rao, the third Indian in the field, shot 568 to finish 25th overall.

In the eight-woman final however, both Indians began string and after the first five-shot series, Rhythm was on top with Esha in second and Veronica Major, Hungary’s Paris Olympic medalist, was in chase.

After the second series, Esha went on top, 0.2 ahead of Major, while Rhythm was down to fifth, a position they would finish with at the end of the final.

As the single-shots began, pressure even got to the Olympic champion as she went into the lower 8s on her 11th as Esha and Rhythm held their positions at the first elimination point after the 12th. China’s 19-year-old Zeng, was the first to bow out.

Esha fired another strong 10.8 for her 13th and as eliminations started coming thick and fast, Rhythm also shot a big 10.8 for her 15th to move up to fourth momentarily. But even though she bettered the experienced Vietnamese Thu Vinh Trinh and women’s pistol legend Zorana Arunovic of Serbia, she could not progress beyond the 18th shot of the 24-shot final.

With six to go, Esha had a lead of 1.1, but Yao brought that down to 0.6 after the 19th shot. Esha, a very strong finalist traditionally, responded with back-to-back 10.7s to hold on professionally, taking the win by the narrowest margin of 0.1 in the end. She shot a final score of 242.6.

In the day’s second event, Bhavesh Shekhawat finished 22nd in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol with a qualification round score of 575. Compatriot Pradeep Singh Shekhawat was a spot behind with the same score while Mandeep Singh was further back in 39th with 562.

With Esha’s gold India are now fifth on the medal tally and among five nations who have won gold in Ningbo so far. Hosts China top the tally with two gold, four silver and one bronze medal. India have fielded their fourth-sixth nationally ranked shooters in each event at the Ningbo World Cup.