Gold rush for teen shooting sensation Esha Singh despite bout with fever
NEW DELHI: Esha Singh is creating quite a name for herself. The 14-year-old, fresh off a silver-winning effort in the recently concluded Junior World Cup, clinched gold medals in both 10m air pistol senior as well as junior categories of the XII Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Memorial Masters Shooting Competition at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Thursday. All this while suffering from a severe bout of fever and nausea.
Esha won the senior event after scoring 239.5 while scoring 239.7 to clinch the deal in the junior category. She was a part of the youth category as well but did not take part to avoid overtaxing herself.The fever had been persisting for almost three days prior to the start of the competition. Her father Sunny, a national-level rallyist, was even contemplating pulling out. But Esha asked him to allow her and if the situation got worse, she would withdraw. What a good decision it turned out to be in the end.
“I’m really happy. I was finding it difficult initially but I managed to regain balance and shoot well,” she told this daily. In between the senior and junior events, her father even gave her a bottle of glucose to keep her energy levels up. She had also topped qualification with an impressive score of 580, her personal best!
While most athletes find it difficult to calm the mind before a shot, it must be doubly difficult when one is not in the pink of health. But Sunny shared some insight into how Esha functions. “The more difficult the situation, the better she performs. She likes challenges and that is how she approaches matches. If the field is weak or if the situation is not demanding enough, her performance can dip,” he said.
A trainee of Gagan Narang’s Project Leap, she began shooting after a chance meeting with her father’s friend Gautam Gianthandani, a national medallist in trap shooting, over prawn biriyani at Gachibowli range. Now her father has built a shooting range in their house itself and she also has a personal coach in Sunder Ghate.And the student of Bolton School, Secunderabad grabbed headlines last year when she won gold after overcoming a star-studded field comprising World, Commonwealth and Youth Olympic gold-medallist Manu Bhaker, multiple World Cup medallist Heena Sidhu at the 62nd National Shooting Championships.
“The win over there gave me the confidence to compete against top names. I used to be apprehensive earlier but now I think I’m heading in the right direction.”And next up for her will be the Rio World Cup, where she will shoot the MQS section. While Tokyo may be a tad too early, Esha is not giving up hope just yet. “You never know. But realistically speaking, I should be there or thereabouts during the next Youth Olympics and the 2024 Olympics,” she signed off.