Esha Singh wins second career Asian Championship gold as India win nine medals on Day 1 to lead the standings

New Delhi [India], February 4 (ANI): Former mixed team world champion Esha Singh struck a second career Asian Championship gold, winning the 10m air pistol women's event with a score of 239.8 here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting ranges on Wednesday, Day 1 of competitions of the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship 2026, according to a release.

The Hyderabad shooter who had won the event two years back as well in Jakarta, lay 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. A couple of Chinese Taipei shooters, Cheng Yen-Ching and Yu Ai-Wen followed the Indian Olympian to the podium, winning silver and bronze respectively.

Reigning world champion Samrat Rana won bronze in the men's 10m air pistol where Uzbekistan's Vladimir Svechnikov won gold with an effort of 242.0 from Kazakhstan's Valeriy Rakhimzan, who finished a point behind. Samrat finished with 220.3.

India also won the women's team gold in air pistol where Esha, Manu Bhaker and Suruchi Singh combined for an effort of 1726, a whole 13 points better than the silver-winning Vietnamese. 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 on the day like Esha, winning the individual contest with a score of 240.9 and combining with Chirag Sharma and Priyanshu Yadav for the team gold.

India in all 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 a 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. (ANI)

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