NAGOYA: The coach was twitching on his chair. His face was serious, his eyes fixed on his ward and the score-board. Sports pistol is a unique sport where both precision and accuracy are tested within a strict time limit. The sport is made more complex by the scoring system. For India, though, the complexity goes beyond the target. Shooting has been the biggest disappointment at the Asian Games here without a single gold (individual categories) to show for their effort, not even on Monday.
The beautiful Aichi highlands had a silver lining on a wet Monday morning. After two days of individual qualification round, India’s three shooters – Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat – could not manage a medal. In fact, such had been the shooting that Rahi even missed the target altogether – symbolic of how India’s campaign had been here.
It was not easy for Esha to recover from the setback of the 10m air pistol where she could not even enter the final. It was not easy during the qualification rounds either. She barely managed to stay among the top eight to enter the final with 580-22x. The morale of the entire shooting team is down. Until this day, shooters have not managed to win an gold in the individual categories. Compare this to Hangzhou three years ago. The 33-member team won 22 medals that included seven gold.
It was not easy being Esha on Monday. After days of disappointment after near misses, it was not easy to wander into the realms of self-doubt. Yet, she stood there, braving three shot-offs in bronze medal play-off and two in gold medal shoot-off for silver.
Under normal circumstances, the medal would not have come as a surprise but the pressure of unexpected performances by pistol shooters added to the glum. Esha is the world record holder in the event final with 43 points. But the pressure of Asian Games is different. When she and China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan finished their final series the scores were tied – Games equaling a record 38 points. It took two shoot-offs to separate the winner. Her coach Ronak Pandit was a relieved man. He is not just her personal coach but also the High Performance Manager of the pistol team. The bronze went to Kim Hyon Suk of North Korea.