CHENNAI: Esha Singh navigated a tricky start to come out on top on Wednesday. In a high-pressure final of the women's 10m air pistol on the opening day of the Asian Shooting Championship, the shooter from Hyderabad displayed nerves of steel in the closing stages to beat two rivals from Chinese Taipei to capture gold, which was incidentally her second individual yellow metal in the continental meet. In the men's equivalent, reigning world champion Samrat Rana captured a bronze medal.
Esha, after a watchful start, came up with impressive returns in the business end to finish with a tally of 239.8. Taipei's Cheng Yen-Ching, who was also in contention for the top prize until the end, returned with low hits in the last two shots to settle for silver. Her compatriot Ai-Wen Yu captured bronze.
The final was a tense affair with most shooters straying their shots on multiple occasions due to pressure. Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker was guilty of that on multiple occasions and was the second shooter to be eliminated in the eight-woman final. Suruchi Singh, the third Indian in the final, made a strong start but her low returns in the initial stages of the elimination rounds cost her as she finished fourth.
In the men's final, Uzbekistan's Vladimir Svechnikov pipped Valeriy Rakhimzhan for gold. Rana's slow start, as compared to the rest of the field, probably cost him a shot at gold. Shravan Kumar, the second Indian in the final, finished fourth.