Esha Singh wins silver in 25m pistol final at Asian Games 2026
Esha qualified for the final in eighth place with a score of 580-22x.
Esha Singh won silver in the women’s 25m pistol individual event at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday, losing gold to China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan in a shoot-off.
The 21-year-old from Hyderabad finished the final level with Xiao on 38 hits each, so the two had to shoot again to decide the title.
In the first gold-medal shoot-off, both scored 4. In the second, Xiao hit 3 to Esha’s 2. Across the two rounds, Xiao totalled 7 hits and Esha 6.
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Esha’s ten series in the final produced 5, 4, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 5, 3 and 4 hits, which adds up to 38. She nearly left without a medal. At one stage she sat fourth, outside the podium places, until a perfect series of five hits from five shots pulled her back in.
Three shoot-offs for silver
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Esha was then tied with Kim Hyon Suk at 34 hits, and it took three shoot-offs to separate them. The first two ended 3-3. Esha won the third 3-2 to secure at least silver. Kim took bronze with 34 hits. Vietnam’s Trinh Thu Vinh was fourth with 30, and China’s Shang Kaiyan fifth with 24.
Xiao, who had led by a point, waited almost 15 minutes while that contest went on. Esha had only just reached the final. She qualified eighth with 580 and 22 inner tens, barely inside the cut-off for the eight-shooter field.
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Singh had a tough start to the Games. She finished 15th in the 10m air pistol with 572. In the 25m pistol team event, India was trailing China by one point for gold until Rahi Sarnobat missed her target in the first series. Hence, India ended fifth.
Esha is the World No. 1 in this event. Over the past 18 months, she has won two World Cup titles and a World Championships bronze.
At the Munich World Cup in May, she scored 43 hits in the final, setting senior and junior world records. At the 2022 Hangzhou Games, she won individual silver in the 25m pistol and a team gold.
Who won gold in the women’s 25m pistol at the Asian Games 2026?
China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan won gold. She and Esha Singh both finished on 38 hits, and Xiao won the shoot-off.
How did Esha Singh qualify for the final?
She qualified in eighth place with a score of 580 and 22 inner tens, just inside the cut-off for the eight-shooter final.
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