She dabbled in karting and badminton. Now, Esha Singh seals Paris Olympics berth – in shooting | Sport-others News

Growing up in Hyderabad, a young Esha Singh would often len to her father’s love for motorbikes and rallies. While she did not follow her father’s footsteps into a career in motorsports, the 19-year-old has emerged as Indian shooting’s latest sensation.Esha, the Asian Games gold medall in the 25m pol, once again showcased her talent after she won India’s 15th Paris Olympics quota with a gold medal in the women’s 10m Air Pol final in the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Jakarta on Monday.
The 14th quota had come earlier in the day when Varun Tomar won the gold medal in the men’s 10m Air Pol final as well. With this, Indian shooters matched their tally of 15 quota places earned for the Tokyo Olympics and are set to earn record representation at the Paris Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11.
Esha’s final lead of 6.8 points over the second-placed Pakani shooter Kishmala Talat, who also won a hory-making quota for her country, reminded her father of the margin of seconds in rallying.
“Esha just rallied past everybody in the final after making a rather slow start in the final. Of course, there was the pressure of bagging the Paris Olympics quota as it was one of the few remaining chances but that’s what brings the best out of her,” said her father Sachin Singh.
With the two Koreans being ineligible for the quota place, the fight for the two Olympic quotas was between the three Indian shooters – including Esha, Rhythm Sangwan and Surbhi Rao – and one each from Singapore, Pakan and Chinese Taipei.
Esha made a slow start in the final and was placed third after the first series. The second series of 50.5 saw her climbing to the top, a position which she maintained till the final shot with four shots of 10.5 or more in the elimination rounds.
“I did not know about the margin between the top-placed and second-placed before the final finished. I feel really happy to win the quota and feel everything has paid off,” said Esha.
Go-karting, badminton, shooting
Esha’s first tryst with sports happened in the form of go-karting and badminton before she made the switch to shooting in 2014 first training under coach Hiren Jaiswal at London Olympics bronze medall Gagan Narang’s academy in Pune and later training at the 10m range built at their Hyderabad residence and coach Abdul Kayyum Shah.
The youngster would stun a teenage Manu Bhaker and seasoned shooter Heena Sidhu at the age of 13 in the 10m air pol final in the National Championships in 2018 before cementing her place in the Indian junior and senior teams.
“Right from the first day, we did not have to tell her when to shoot or when to do activities which any teenager likes to do. We don’t have to tell her when to stop seeing her cell phone or to go out with friends or other things. From a young age, she plans her whole day and there are days when I tell her to shoot and she clearly tells me it’s her rest day,” Sachin said.
Apart from the 10m Air Pol silver in the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, the Hyderabad shooter became the 25m Pol junior world champion in 2022.
Tomar emulates cousin Saurabh
India’s 14th Paris Olympics quota went to Varun Tomar, who scored 239.6 in the final and beat compatriot Arjun Singh Cheema, who won a silver medal with his effort of 237.3. But it was Tomar’s qualification performance that he was most proud of afterwards.
“This is the kind of score that gets you in the final eight of the best competitions. Earlier I had a qualification mark of 584 internationally so I’m very happy after having qualified for the finals with a score of 586,” said Tomar.
Gunning for eye-catching performances in big competitions was something he picked up from Saurabh Chaudhary, his cousin and the 2018 Asian Games gold medall in the same discipline.
“When bhai (Saurabh) had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, I too looked up to when my time would come and hoped that the Paris Olympics might be it. It made me wonder, ‘If he could do it, then why couldn’t I?’ Now with performances like these, I’m starting to sense that the possibility of it might be likely for me as well,” said Tomar from Jakarta.
Absence of Chinese, Korean shooters aids India
While India’s pol quotas for the Paris Olympics have finally started to flow in, they are doing so at an Asian Olympic qualifier with no Chinese and Korean ‘competition’. While China shooters had already won their quotas and chose to skip the tournament, Korea had already completed their quota haul in the previous World Championships and were therefore ineligible to win any more on Monday.
Many of the top shooters in the world have already guaranteed themselves a spot for the Games in the French capital. As was the case in Tokyo, a quota spot won, or previous solid performances, are not necessarily a marker of how things unfold at the Olympics.