Esha wins sports pistol gold

Esha Singh was in fine form as she beat a strong field to win the women’s 25-metre sports pistol gold in the 20th Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal on Saturday.

After qualifying at the top with 585, two points better than the eventual junior champion Manu Bhaker, the 17-year-old Esha beat Vibhuti Bhatia 30-23 for the gold.

Former World No. 1 and World Cup gold medallist, Chinki Yadav bagged the bronze ahead of Neeraj Kaur, multiple World Cup gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat, Abhidnya Patil, Manu and Anisa Sayyed.

Manu Bhaker was irrepressible in the junior women medal round and beat Payal 32-23 for the gold. Junior World Champion Naamya Kapoor won the bronze ahead of Vibhuti Bhatia, Tejaswani and Divanshi.

In the 50-metre free pistol, Arjun Das won the gold with a score of 562. Omkar Singh and Ravinder Singh took the silver and bronze respectively, ahead of Arjun Singh Cheema and Saurabh Chaudhary.

Saurabh, with a score of 554, was not at his best, but managed to clinch the junior gold, comfortably ahead of Harsh Gupta and Naved Chaudhary.

The results:

25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Esha Singh 30 (14) 585; 2. Vibhuti Bhatia 23 (14) 574; 3. Chinki Yadav 17 (13) 577; 4. Neeraj Kaur 8 (11) 576. Juniors: 1. Manu Bhaker 32 (12) 583; 2. Payal 23 (9) 565; 3. Naamya Kapoor 16 (10) 567; 4. Vibhuti Bhatia 7 (10) 574.

50m free pistol: Men: 1. Arjun Das 562; 2. Omkar Singh 559; 3. Ravinder Singh 556. Juniors: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 554; 2. Harsh Gupta 542; 3. Naved Chaudhary 540.