Asian Games 2026: Esha Singh Wins Silver in Women’s 25m Pistol

Indian Esha Singh bagged the silver medal in the women’s 25m pistol individual event of the Asian Games 2026 held in Nagoya, Japan on September 28. Esha qualified for the final with a total of 580 points and then had to go through several shoot-offs for a medal in the event. In the gold medal shoot-off, she competed against Chinese Xiao Jiaruixuan. While both shooters were tied at 38 points at the end of the regular final round, Esha failed the last shot and ended up taking the second position while Kim Hyon Suk from North Korea won bronze.

Road to Esha’s Final

Qualifying as eighth with 580 points in qualifying, Esha beat Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Ching Cheng who also qualified as eighth with 580 points. Esha had 22 inner tens (X). Only the top eight shooters were able to make it to the final round.

The final turned out to be tough for Esha since she went through four shoot-offs, where she managed to win three of them in order to still be among those competing for the medals. She then faced two shoot-offs against Chinese Xiao Jiaruixuan in the battle for the gold medal.

Manu Bhaker Places 11th

The two-time Olympics medallist, Manu Bhaker failed to qualify for the individual final, after placing 11th in qualifications with a score of 579-18x. The top eight shooters made the cut for the medals round.

She had previously placed fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final at the Asian Games. The 25m pistol qualifications saw her finish her individual events without winning a medal.

India Places Fifth in Women’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol

India also failed to win a medal in the women’s 25m rapid fire pistol team event. The team consisting of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, and Rahi Sarnobat placed fifth with a combined score of 1727-56x.

The poor performance of Rahi Sarnobat in the rapid stage hurt India’s chances of winning the game. In the fourth series, she scored 39 points, whereas an individual score of 568 saw her place 30th out of 44 participants.

Team China won gold with 1743-68x, followed by Team South Korea with 1735-65x and Team Chinese Taipei with 1734-48x.

About 25m Pistol Event

25m pistol is an event that involves both precise and rapid-fire shooting. During the qualification rounds, there are both precise and rapid firing phases, and the overall performance determines who qualifies to the finals.

In the individual finals, scoring is done using a completely different system that involves hits and misses, and ties during crucial moments may require tiebreakers. This is why even when scoring was up to 600 points for the qualification phase, the individual final had many tiebreaker moments.

In conclusion, it involves both precision and ability to handle pressure during the rapid phase.