NAGOYA: The medal did not come easily for Esha Singh. Before the 25m air pistol final on Monday, Esha and her coach indulged in some playful banter just to take her mind off the event. They were arguing which generation was better — Esha is GenZ while Ronak Pandit, her coach, is a millennial. It was an essential distraction, for the last five days after the 10m air pistol event were gloomy.
"I was drained out and low," Esha confessed after winning the silver medal in the 25m pistol at the beautiful Aichi shooting ranges. It was raining but the medal lifted the gloom in the Indian shooting camp.
Esha had trouble sleeping after the 10m air pistol, which was held a few days ago. She could not enter the final and had finished 15th. She was under a lot of pressure, though she would not show it. "It was inside me," she said.
But then people started to give her the necessary lift. First, some mild scolding from her mother, the previous night, was enough to spur her on. Then, some banter with her coach put her in a relaxed mood. Then a chat about her targets for the next one year, and not Monday's event, gave her focus and perspective.
Initially, her shooting hand felt stiff and numb and things looked bleak. But then, a small break due to confusion among referees during the bronze medal play-off gave her a new lease of life. It helped her soothe her nerves and stiffness. By the end of the final, she had a bad headache.
The day before the final had been a gruelling one for her. On Sunday, they got to the shooting range at seven in the morning and only got back by six in the evening. By the time she finally had a meal before her, she was wondering if she should call it a late lunch or an early dinner.
Sport pistol is a gruelling sport that tests both precision and patience. The target is tiny and the shooter has to shoot in three seconds with a seven-second break between series. The shooter has to start with a lowered arm at 45 degrees, raise the gun, aim, and fire — all within 3 seconds. With a troubled mind, shots can spray all over the target.
Inside the hall, things were not going in favour of Esha and her compatriots — Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat. Esha barely managed to get into the final as the eighth-best shooter.
"I was grateful for the errors the judges were making because I got some rest," she said. She considers it as a divine intervention. "For athletes in the zone, it may be an unwanted break. But in my case, it really helped me."
"Esha maintained her schedule — waking up, training, going to the range after the 10m event. There was a lot of stress," said Ronak Pandit, her coach, who is also the team's High Performance Manager. Each ritual is fresh in his mind. After missing out on the 10m, the 25m final was the last opportunity to win a medal. It had its pressure.
"She required a lot of pepping up because you can't enter a competition on a flat note," Ronak said. "If you saw her performance, it was because everything was fired up inside. But to execute that under pressure, the drive must come from within (her). My role was to fire her up and remind her not to get distracted by how well others were shooting. She needed to focus purely on shooting to her own potential."
The coach kept reminding her that she had been exceptionally good even during training. Since it's a final, she had to increase her effort, and back it with focus with a lot of determination and killer instinct. "That's what she did," he said.
Esha's journey did not have a flat line. It spiked and fell, especially during the qualifications during the rapid series. She fell but regrouped herself in the final series. "I am proud of the win because of the pressure I was under, it was different," she said. "It was Olympic level and that is what I really like about this whole experience. I got to relive that (Olympic) moment and I did things which I couldn't do back then."
The words of the coach kept echoing in her mind as well. "I didn't want to beat anyone," she said. "That is what my coach Ronak told me many times, that 'you are not here to beat anyone. This is an individual game. You play for yourself and you are your competitor'."
Given India's subdued campaign in shooting until now, the medal came as a soothing balm. Esha is fond of grilled and barbecued food. After the day's performance, she has earned herself a hearty meal.