Esha Singh wins ISSF women's air pistol gold to end India's medal drought

Ningbo (China): Olympian and reigning mixed team pistol world champion Esha Singh ended India's medal drought at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol, clinching gold in the women's 10m air pistol here on Saturday.

At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre, the 20-year-old edged out home favourite Yao Qianxun by 0.1 point in a tense final. Reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin of South Korea took the bronze.

This was Esha's maiden World Cup gold in the event and it helped India move to fifth spot in the medal standings, joining four other nations with a gold medal.

Hosts China lead the standings with two gold, four silver and one bronze. India have fielded their fourth to sixth ranked shooters in each event at the tournament.

"I am very happy as this 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," Singh said.

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." On her mindset in the final, she said: "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." Esha and teammate Rhythm Sangwan had qualified for the final with identical scores of 578, securing the last two available spots.

Yao topped qualification with 584, while India's Palak Gulia, competing for ranking points, shot 586. Surbhi Rao finished 25th with 568.

In the eight-shooter final, Rhythm began strongly, leading after the first series with Esha in second.

By the halfway mark, Esha moved into the lead while Rhythm slipped to fifth, where she eventually finished.

As eliminations progressed, both Indians maintained composure.

Rhythm briefly climbed to fourth with a 10.8 on her 15th shot but bowed out after the 18th.

Esha, meanwhile, maintained her rhythm, producing two 10.7s at crucial stages to stave off Yao's late surge.

She sealed the gold with a final score of 242.6, just 0.1 clear of the Chinese shooter.

In other results, Bhavesh Shekhawat finished 22nd in the men's 25m rapid-fire pistol with 575, followed by Pradeep Singh Shekhawat in 23rd with the same score. Mandeep Singh placed 39th with 562.