Shooting World Cup: Esha Singh bags silver in women's 25m pistol, third medal for India

Sun’s compatriot Feng Sixuan won bronze in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) event being conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, who also made the final, finished sixth eventually.

India now have one medal of each colour at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun, after Chain Singh had won bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) and Sift Kaur Samra, gold in women’s 3P on Friday.

The Indians had to first qualify for the final eight early on Saturday morning, and Manu, who was fourth overnight, returned a pleasing 294 in the second rapid-fire round to qualify in third spot, with a total of 585. The girl who piped Manu to a third medal at the Paris Olympics, Hungarian Veronika Major, topped with 587.

Esha too shot exceedingly well, a 294 in rapid-fire, giving her a total of 579, just enough to ensure two Indians in the final. Simranpreet Kaur Brar, the third Indian in contention, had a tough opening rapid-fire series to miss out with 576.

Manu Bhaker was also stronger at the start of the final, a perfect five in the third series, moving her up to the joint lead with the two Chinese, Sun and Feng. Esha came into her own from the third series, a round of four hits moving her up to joint fourth from seventh.

What followed was simply stunning from the Hyderabad girl as she maxed the fifth, sixth, and seventh series to surge up to sole second, just one behind Sun.

As heavyweights like Tien Chia-Chen of Chinese Taipei, Doreen Vennekamp of Germany, and Manu faltered, it was between Sun and Esha, and the former finished stronger to claim a deserving gold. Feng overcame a three-way shoot-off to claim another podium for the Chinese. Manu also lost out on a shoot-off with Tien, scoring one hit to Tien’s two.

Skeet challenge snuffed out

India’s challenge in the men’s and women’s skeet competitions was snuffed out at the qualification stage itself. Raiza Dhillon shot 116 to finish 11th in women’s skeet while Ganemat Sekhon (114) and Darshna Rathore (112) finished 14th and 17th, respectively.

In men’s skeet, Anantjeet Singh Naruka secured the best position among Indians when he finished 20th on a score of 116. Bhavtegh Gill was a spot below on the same score, while Gurjoat Khangura finished 22nd with a tally of 115.