Esha Singh takes 25m pistol silver after fifth shoot-off loss to Xiao at Asian Games
Esha Singh lost the deciding fifth shoot-off to China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan and settled for silver in the women’s 25m pistol final at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday. She had survived four shoot-offs earlier in the competition before the final tie-breaker defeat.
The 21-year-old from Hyderabad, who enters the event as the reigning world No. 1, reached the final after qualifying in eighth place with a score of 580 and 22 Xs. Singh then advanced through the elimination rounds into medal contention, facing multiple tie-breakers en route to the gold-medal match.
In the contest for the silver-medal slot, Esha and North Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk were tied at 34 hits. The first two shoot-offs between them ended 3-3, and Esha prevailed 3-2 in the third shoot-off to progress into the gold-medal contest.
Singh and Xiao finished the regulation final level on 38 hits each, equalling the Games Record set by Liu Rui at Hangzhou 2023. Their first shoot-off finished 4-4, necessitating a second tie-breaker, which Xiao won 3-2 to claim gold and leave Esha with silver.
"Yes, I was under pressure and this is the longest match of my career so far. My arms were aching at the end of it," Esha said after the final.
The silver at Aichi-Nagoya is Esha’s second individual medal in the women’s 25m pistol at the Asian Games, following her silver at Hangzhou 2023. North Korea’s Kim took bronze after finishing behind Esha in the shoot-off.
India’s other entrants missed the final: two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished 11th in qualification with 579 points and 18 Xs, while Rahi Sarnobat was 30th with 568 points and 16 Xs. Earlier on Monday the Indian trio of Manu, Esha and Rahi placed fifth in the women’s 25m pistol team event with a combined score of 1727-56x; China won team gold with 1743-68x, South Korea took silver with 1735-65x and Chinese Taipei bronze with 1734-48x.
Shooting has now contributed 12 medals to India’s tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, including one gold, seven silver and four bronze.
