Hyderabad’s Esha Singh wins second Asian gold in shooting

Hyderabad’s Esha Singh won her second Asian Championship gold in the 10m air pistol event at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. India claimed nine medals on day one, including six golds, with Jonathan Antony also securing a double gold in juniors

Hyderabad: Former mixed team world champion Esha Singh struck her second career Asian Championship gold, winning the 10m air pistol women’s event with a score of 239.8 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi on Wednesday, the opening day of the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship.

The Hyderabad shooter, who had won the event two years ago in Jakarta, was seventh after the first series of five shots before mounting a strong climb up the leaderboard and taking a decisive lead after the 19th shot of the 24-shot final. Chinese Taipei shooters Cheng Yen-Ching and Yu Ai-Wen followed the Indian Olympian to the podium, winning silver and bronze respectively.

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Reigning world champion Samrat Rana won bronze in the men’s 10m air pistol, where Uzbekistan’s Vladimir Svechnikov claimed gold with 242.0, finishing a point ahead of Kazakhstan’s Valeriy Rakhimzan. Samrat finished with 220.3.

India also won the women’s team gold in air pistol, with Esha, Manu Bhaker and Suruchi Singh combining for 1726, 13 points better than silver-winning Vietnam. The trio of Samrat, Sharvan Kumar and Varun Tomar won silver in the men’s air pistol team event.

Jonathan Gavin Antony in the 10m air pistol junior men’s event also won a double gold, taking the individual title with 240.9 and combining with Chirag Sharma and Priyanshu Yadav for the team gold.

India won a total of nine medals on the day, including six golds and two silvers, to lead the medal tally ahead of Uzbekistan. In the final event of the day, the 10m air pistol men youth competition, Dhairya Parashar won gold and Mandeep Chauhan silver in the individual contest, while the duo alongside Girish Gupta secured the team gold.

India won a total of nine medals on the day including six golds and two silvers to head the medal tally by a distance from Uzbekistan. In the final event of the day, the 10m air pistol men youth competition, it was 1-2 for the hosts as Dhairya Parashar won gold and Mandeep Chauhan silver in the individual competition while the duo alongside Girish Gupta won the team gold in the event as well.