Esha Singh wins women's 25m pistol silver, Manu Bhaker falters in Asian Games 2023

Manu Bhaker topped the qualification rounds prior to the finals.

Indian shooting continued to bring glory as Esha Singh bagged a hard-fought silver in the women's 25m Pistol individual event at Asian Games 2023. Esha along with Manu Bhaker were favorites going into the individual finals after a gold-winning performance in the team event.

Esha Singh,18, had a disappointing start scoring 2/5 and 3/5 in the first two series. However, the youngster came back to form in the third series with a perfect score of 5/5. She finished off the first stage in third place with a total of 14 points. The topsy-turvy journey with the event continued for the Hyderabad-born shooter, as she missed four of the five shots in the first elimination round.

The disappointing round turned out to be the trigger for the 2023 world champion to improve her consistency. She kept climbing up the ranks with scores of 4/5 and 5/5 in the following series. Before the shootout for the fifth elimination, she was tied with Olympic Champion Sixuan Feng of China and Jiin Yang of South Korea of South Korea at 23 points.

It was a display of nerves as the teenager overcame resistance to move into the second spot. The shoot-off decided the bronze medalist ,Jiin Yang, as she was relieved at the end to finish on the podium. She was going for the gold before dropping her concentration due to a technical fault in her scoring sheet. China's Rui Liu won the gold and, in the process, also broke the Asian Games record.

Esha Singh's silver in the women's 25m pistol event gives India a total of 11, surpassing its previous tally of nine from the Jakarta Games. Additionally, it was India's sixth shooting medal on wednesday (September 27th).

It was an event not short of technical issues, as India's Manu Bhaker once again had a probable gun mishap as she struggled in the first three series. It was heartbreaking to see the youngster missing out on a medal despite topping the qualification charts.