Manu Bhaker finishes sixth, Esha Singh wins silver medal in 25m pistol final at season-opening ISSF World Cup
India’s double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker on Saturday finished sixth in the women’s 25m pistol final at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Esha Singh, 20, gave a better account of herself, clinching the silver medal at the season-opening ISSF event.
China’s Yujie Sun, also 20, won the gold medal in her very first senior event.
Earlier, Manu (585 – 19x) and Esha (579 – 15x) had made the final after finishing third and ninth on the rankings in the qualification round, respectively. Although only eight athletes are allowed in the final, Esha scraped through as two shooters were playing for RPO (Ranking Points Only). The only other Indian in the fray, Simranpreet Kaur Brar, came 13th with a score of 576 – 16x.
In the final, Manu perished in a shoot-off with Taipei’s Chia-Chen Tien. The Indian missed all but one shot in the elimination series.
Esha, who was going neck and neck with Sun in the dying moments of the race to gold, registered only two hits to finish the contest at 35. Sun had 38 shots on target.
India has so far won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal.
The results:
25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Sun Yujie (Chn) 38 (578); 2. Esha Singh 35 (579); 3. Feng Sixuan (Chn) 30 (584); 6. Manu Bhaker 20 (585); 13. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 576.