Esha Singh wins women’s air pistol gold at ISSF World Cup, ending India’s medal drought in a thrilling final in Ningbo.
Olympian and mixed team pistol world champion Esha Singh at last brought some smiles to the Indian camp at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol 2025 with a nail-biting gold in the women's 10m air pistol event in Ningbo, China. The 20-year-old narrowly overcame home favourite Yao Qianxun by 0.1 point in an anxiety-filled final to deliver India its first medal in the competition.
Racing at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre, Esha performed with calm assurance in the face of immense pressure. While Yao had the partisan crowd cheering her on, Esha came up with two decisive 10.7s down the stretch to claim the gold medal pinnacle with a total of 242.6 just 0.1 ahead of Yao. South Korea's reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin had to settle for bronze.
This was Esha's first personal World Cup gold in the event, which also moved India to fifth on the medal chart, joining four others with a single gold each. Host nation China remain atop with two golds, four silvers, and one bronze.
Esha and her teammate Rhythm Sangwan had previously qualified for the eight-shooter final with the same scores of 578, earning the last two qualifying positions. Palak Gulia, who was fighting for ranking points, headed the Indian qualification list with 586, with Surbhi Rao finishing 25th with 568.
In the final, Rhythm began well and was initially leading after the opening sequence but fell to fifth by the midpoint and finally finished in the same position. Her gritty 10.8 on the 15th shot kept her in the running before getting eliminated after the 18th shot.
Talking after her victory, Esha stated, "This is the first event I began with and to win World Cup gold in it… I am just glad that some of my goals are being achieved. I knew India had not won a medal yet, but I stuck to my own process. The pistol is in my hand, and the fight is against me."
Looking to the future, Esha emphasized that plans are already in motion for the next World Championship in Cairo, where she promised "good things from the Indian team."
In the 25m rapid-fire pistol event in the men's section, Bhavesh Shekhawat and Pradeep Singh Shekhawat both posted 575 to finish 22nd and 23rd respectively, whereas Mandeep Singh finished 39th with 562.
