New Delhi: It’s been a little over a month since Esha Singh shot gold in 25m pistol event at the Munich World Cup, and the feeling is finally beginning to sink in. “Maybe, I should do interviews only a month after winning, considering it took me that long to come to terms with what I have achieved,” she quipped. What she achieved in Munich, besides the top spot, is a world record score of 43/50, edging past the previous mark of 42 points held by South Korea’s Kim Yeji. A Paris Olympics silver medallist in 10m pistol event, Kim had held the record since May 2024.
“It feel surreal. Pistol shooting, especially the 25m variant, demands a lot of consistency and technical execution. I am happy that I could manage it,” she said. The gold medal also ended Esha’s Munich voodoo — she had competed there twice without medalling; her best result there was a sixth-place finish last year.
“It’s an event that attracts the very best in terms of competition, so I always wanted to do well in Munich. After two underwhelming trips, I was determined to break that jinx this time,” she said. The field this time around was quite stacked as well. The eight-shooter final had reigning Olympic champion from South Korea Yang Ji-in and former world champion and European Games gold medallist Doreen Vennekamp of Germany, while double Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker and 2018 Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat couldn’t make the medal round.
Esha warmed up for the World Cup with a training stint in Suhl where she also modified the grip of her pistol. She began shooting with the new grip just ten days before her event, a gamble she was willing to take considering the bigger competitions — Asian Games and World Championships — lined up later in the year.
“I was having some issues with the grip since November 2025 and I kept postponing it, thinking it’ll get better. Since this is an important year and I was anyway in Europe, I thought this is the time for me to do it,” she explained. Esha followed up her 25m gold with a silver in 10m event behind compatriot Suruchi Singh. Along with Manu, Esha has been named in both pistol events for this year’s Asian Games.
“I have been straddling the two events for a while now, and I feel one helps the other,” she said, although the weapons and ammunition used in both events are completely different.
“The precision part of 25m is exactly like the 10m. The more you practice 10m, you’re also kind of training for precision. So, both kind of balance out each other. Your triggering gets better in 10m events which helps in the rapid fire stage. The weight, recoil, sound, and ammunition of both pistols are very different, but I don’t need much time to make the technical or mental switch anymore. That comes with lots of practice.”
Past two years have been particularly fruitful for Esha. Last year, she won silver medals in a couple of 10m team events at the Cairo World Championships along with a 10m gold at Ningbo World Cup and a 25m silver at the Buenos Aires World Cup. She got off the blocks this season with Asian Championships titles in 10m individual and team competitions besides an individual Asian bronze and a team gold in the 25m event.
Besides rigorous training — she is coached by Ronak Pandit — Esha credits her consistency to her fearlessness. “I am not afraid of shooting low scores anymore,” she said. “But that comes with a lot of experience and competition exposure. In my early years, I was a very inconsistent shooter even though I won domestic age-group titles. Many people have a steady upwards trajectory, so when their performances dip, it’s very hard for them to come back. For me, since I had seen success and failure early in my life, I gradually got over the fear of failure. I believe I can bounce back from any situation,” Esha, who at 13 became the youngest ever national champion in the 10 m air pistol event, added.
“Even in Munich, I would have been alright if I didn’t win as long as I was happy with my execution.”
The next big assignment for Esha are the Asian Games in Japan, a country she has never competed in. Back in 2023, the then 18-year-old debuted at the Asiad with a tally of four medals — a team gold in the 25m pistol, individual silver in both the 10m and 25m pistol events, and a team silver in the 10m competition — to become India’s youngest shooting medallist in that edition.
Three years since that Hangzhou high have seen her emerge as one of India’s brightest medal prospects, and barring the disappointment of Paris Olympics where she couldn’t make the finals, Esha has barely misfired. She will next compete at the World Cup in Hangzhou (July 20-29) before heading to the Asian Games.
“I am obviously a different person and a different shooter from what I was in 2023. I expect more out of myself, and I know people have their expectations as well. I hope to put all my learnings and experiences to good use in Japan,” she said.
