With World Cup gold in bag, Esha Singh sets target for bigger glories

Esha Singh’s whirlwind life has been largely lived in the fast lane: jet-setting from one competition to the next, fuelled by nothing but adrenaline and the undying hunger for glory. Actively seeking the thrill of precision under pressure is a trait her father, Sachin, who has professionally raced off-road with Suzuki and Mahindra, would have passed on.

If racing comes down to making tactical calls in split seconds, pistol shooting is defined by differences of a few millimetres—and Esha thrives on both.

Take her performance at Ningbo, for example. She bagged her first senior World Cup gold medal by 0.1 point in the 10 metre air pistol, the lowest attainable win margin in the sport. On the scale, that would be just about 1.55-1.65mm, the approximate diameter of the tip of the lead of a clutch pencil!

Victory could have never tasted sweeter, given Esha had to fend off the reigning Olympic champion, the air pistol mixed team gold medallist and the 25 metre sports pistol bronze medal winner from Paris 2024, and the 25m pistol world record holder en route to the top of the leaderboard in the final.

“When the fourth place got decided (Veronika Major), I thought: ‘Okay, I have been assured of a medal now’. I usually end up winning the silver medal. This time, I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to get that gold. I am tired of winning silver medals (Esha has two silver medals from previous senior World Cups). I was highly motivated because this time we had the ‘A’ team of China, and all the big players came into this tournament, which wasn’t the case at the Asian Championship. That did push me to perform my best,” she says.

Meanwhile, Esha’s SCATT shot maps spoke volumes about her tactical nous. In the qualification, where Esha finished eighth, just about managing to make the final, she started her first 10-shot series with most of her shots clustered just below the 10-ring. In the second series, her shots were concentrated right above the inner ring. The third series had most of her shots on the left of the mark, and the fourth on the right. It was almost as if she were trying to compensate for each of her previous series in the next one. The same pattern followed in the final, albeit she was way more consistent during the eliminations.

When asked about it, she said, “I can see the screen, so I know what is happening (during each series). So, you act accordingly. But when you shoot, knowing you have done everything right, but somehow it still does not go well, you just use a screwdriver and do some adjustments… a few clicks. So that is when it may go a bit here and there.”

There are other scales which may help one gauge the significance of Esha’s victory. The 20-year-old used to dabble in both sports and air pistol when she started out, but her depleting form in the latter meant she was out of the reckoning for a seat in the first team.

Moreover, the newfound acclaim of Suruchi Inder Singh, who has won three individual gold medals in 10m air pistol at three separate World Cups inside three months, hasn’t helped Esha’s cause. Presently, Esha ranks 67th in 10m air, only good enough to earn her a spot in the second-string Indian side. Her ranking as a 25m sports pistol shooter is way better, though; she is globally sixth. But on September 13, rankings momentarily took a back seat when Esha let her air gun do the talking!

“The year did start off rough for me in 10m. But then, because of what happened, I got to know a few things that I was doing wrong, and I could correct them. If it had happened during a major tournament, that would have been troublesome. I am glad that at least we had some space to experiment and work on a few things. This result shows everything is going fine. It was like a reassurance,” Esha tells Sportstar.

When asked to elaborate regarding the areas she worked on, Esha said: “I can just say that it is technical stuff that I have been working on. Some combinations were not working out, so I have just made minute changes to them. But at the end of the day, it is largely just about the basics… When I am not consistent enough, I do not look at it as a slump or a bad phase. I mostly look at it as a warning sign indicating something is wrong, and I need to look deeply into my game. Also, if you have a stable performance, it gets boring. I think you should have a few highs and lows to keep things exciting (laughs).”

The return of Jaspal Rana, who cracked the Olympic code with Manu Bhaker a year ago, as Esha’s coach earlier this year, may have something to do with the athlete’s improved showing at the range. “I have known him for over seven to eight years now because he was our junior coach for a very long time. So, working with him is nothing new to me. What sets him apart is that he is a strict disciplinarian. It ticks him off if you take things lightly. And he likes to keep things very simple without complicating anything,” says Esha, who was earlier trained by Ved Prakash Pilaniya.

“Something I have observed while working personally (with Jaspal) is that you can’t say what is going on in his mind. He keeps things to himself, only to tell you when he thinks it is right. So, even if you are questioning him at that moment, he won’t give you an answer,” Esha further revealed.

Esha made the final by the skin of her teeth (she was the last to make the cut with 578-16x), but in the last-eight, one witnessed a very different version of the Telangana markswoman. She was quick to assume charge. In fact, she was the outright leader, heading into stage two. Every time she would falter with a 9, Esha ensured she followed it up with a high-10.

Heading into the last two deciding shots, Esha was 0.5 ahead of China’s Yao Qianxun. After their respective first shots, the gap had come down to 0.4. Off her final attempt, Esha hit 9.7 and almost instinctively, one could see the colour disappear from her face. A mere 10.2 would have seen Yao snatch the gold medal from Esha. An entire gallery of spectators had suddenly become silent, the tension palpable. Esha had her eyes glued to her neighbour’s screen. After what seemed like an eternity, a humble 10.0 flashed on the screen. Esha had romped home by the barest of margins!

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“As an athlete, even if I am in a final or any match for that matter, the shot I am about to take is in my control. As soon as I fired that (last) shot, I knew something had gone off (sic). I looked at the screen, and it confirmed that my hunch had been correct. The shot had hit below the intended mark. So, for that split second, I was a little upset, but then it was over already, wasn’t it? There was nothing else that I could do but wait. Later, when I looked at the screen and realised I had won by 0.1 points, I felt that not everybody has the chance to feel what I was feeling. So, that’s when I smiled, thinking, ‘Okay, today is my day!’.”

Esha, however, will barely get any time to celebrate the momentous win, for the national selection trials are already underway in Bhopal. A good score there will stand her in good stead when the team for November’s Rifle/Pistol World Championship in Cairo is picked.

Therefore, having a well-rounded pre-competition routine is the need of the hour, Esha believes. It is something that Dr Pierre Beauchamp, the National Rifle Association of India’s (NRAI) High Performance Director, has asked every shooter to religiously follow.

Explaining what it means, Esha says: “So, it is basically to make sure you are in a competition phase. You need to just have your routine in check, that is, keep doing the same things every day. If you keep doing different things, then you are not in a routine. It can be anything and can differ from one athlete to another. Everybody has different pre-competition routines. Some like waking up extra early, some like waking up according to their match time. It is an individual and different game for everyone, just to keep things in the same rhythm so your body knows what to do and how to react.”

With a World Cup gold medal now shimmering at the top of her trophy cabinet, Esha is ready to take the next big step after the trials. But before that, she would love to pull into the pit for a well-deserved maintenance break.

Published on Sep 21, 2025