Esha Singh shoots silver after dramatic shoot-off battle at Asian Games

Aichi-Nagoya, Sept 28 (UNI) Esha Singh endured a nerve-wracking shoot-off battle before settling for silver in the women's 25m pistol event at the Asian Games here on Monday, adding a third continental medal to her growing collection.

The 21-year-old Indian finished with 38 points in the final and was locked in a tense fight for the gold with China's Olympic medallist Xiao Jiaruixuan. The contest went down to a second shoot-off for the gold medal, with both shooters under immense pressure. Esha missed three of her five shots, while Xiao missed two to take the title. Esha's route to silver was hardly straightforward. She had to negotiate five series of shoot-offs, first fighting to secure second place before finding herself in contention for gold.

Although the final gold medal eluded her, Esha's silver extended her Asian Games medal haul to three, having won two silver medals at Hangzhou 2023. The result also underlined her consistency on the continental stage, with Esha again finding herself among the leading performers in one of shooting's most demanding precision events.

Earlier in qualification, Esha had scraped into the individual final in eighth place with 580-22x. Her compatriots Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat finished 11th and 30th respectively, while India missed out on a team medal, finishing fifth with 1727-56x.

For Esha, however, the individual final turned into a test of composure and resilience, as she survived successive shoot-offs to emerge with silver after one of the day's closest medal battles.

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