Esha Singh fights through five shoot-offs to win 25m pistol silver at Asian Games
India's Esha Singh battled through five shoot-offs to clinch the silver medal in the women's 25m pistol individual event at the Asian Games here on Monday, missing out on gold by just one shot.
The 21-year-old Hyderabad shooter, the reigning world number one, secured three shoot-off wins to move into medal contention before facing two more against China's Xiao Jiaruixuan in the gold-medal clash.
Esha and Xiao were tied at 38 points at the end of regulation. But Esha faltered on the final shot of the shoot-off, handing the Chinese shooter the gold.
"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.
North Korea's Kim Hyon Suk won the bronze after losing the shoot-off to Esha, finishing with 34 points.
Esha had entered the final in eighth position after scoring 580 in qualification.
Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, meanwhile, missed out on the final after finishing 11th with 579 points.
Bhaker's campaign ended without a medal after she had also failed to finish on the podium in the women's 10m air pistol event earlier in the Games.
India's hopes of another medal in the women's 25m pistol team event also took a blow after Rahi Sarnobat struggled in the qualification round.
Sarnobat, a gold medallist at the 2018 Asian Games, shot a score of 39 in the fourth series of five shots, a lapse that ended India's medal hopes. She finished 30th with 568 points.
"This is the first time that something like this has happened in my career and I do not know how it happened," Sarnobat said.
