Shiva Narwal overcomes family tragedy, conjunctivitis to win mixed gold with Esha Singh | Sport-others News
Shiva Narwal and Esha Singh put behind a forgettable individual 10m air pol performance to win a mixed event gold medal on Friday at the Baku World Championships, defeating Turkey in the gold medal shootout 16-10. The win comes in an event where quota spots aren’t available, despite it being a competition that will be held at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
For 17-year-old Shiva, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 10m air pol finals on Thursday, and had also narrowly missed out on winning a Paris Olympic quota spot at the 2022 World Championships, the comeback to win gold was after his family had suffered a setback that rocked them last November.
One of five children, Shiva lost his eldest brother Manjit in a road accident last year in November. It was a jolt that rocked the entire family. Narwal’s other brother Manish Narwal is a Tokyo Paralympics gold medall while his ser Shikha Narwal is a junior world championship gold medall – and all three of them went through a drop in form as they found ways to cope with the tragic death.
Air Pol Mixed Team #worldchampions Shiva Narwal (2nd from left) & Esha Singh with national pol coaches Samaresh Jung (left), Munkhbayar Dorjsuren (centre) & Rajiv Sharma (right) after the final at Baku.#ISSFWorldChampionship #Baku #IndianShooting #Shooting pic.twitter.com/P14qT5qO9K
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) August 18, 2023
“A water tanker hit him while he was driving. All three of them were in their camps at the Dr Karni Singh range. I didn’t tell them the entire day. The next day I called an official from India’s Paralympics team and told them to bring the children with him back home. Shikha and Manish cried for days when they found out. But Shiva was angry and internalised it,” their father Dilbaug Singh Narwal said to the Indian Express.
At the time, Shiva was one of the top pol shooters in the Indian camp, but according to his father, he slid down to fifth soon. After a while, he returned back to shooting and was selected for the World Championships, as well as the Asian Games pol squad. Before the Worlds, the shooting team from India was in Paris where they were scoping out the range that would be used at the Olympics – a team Shiva was a part of.
After returning from Paris, he locked himself up in his family’s Faridabad home because of the wave of conjunctivitis that had hit New Delhi. It was only on the third day, where the family got to see how bad his eye had become – mere weeks before the World Championships.
Gold!!! 🥇 India’s Shiva Narwal (left) & Esha Singh defeat Turkey’s Sevval Tarhan & Yusuf Dikec 16-8 to win the 10m Air Pol Mixed Team at the @issf_official world championship in #Baku. Bring em on👏🇮🇳 🔥 #ISSFWorldChampionship #IndianShooting pic.twitter.com/2QQt6YOLAY
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) August 18, 2023
Bout of eye flu
“Days before he was supposed to fly to Baku for the Worlds, he got eye flu and it was so bad both his eyes got bloodshot. He couldn’t practice and then when the camp started, he got unwell again and was recuperating at the hostel. He was struggling to stand and shoot for 30 minutes the way he is used to,” said Dilbaugh. A forgettable individual event followed – one where he scored 579 in qualifying but the cutoff closed at 582.
“I could see he had gained a little bit of strength today during the gold shootout. He was looking stronger while lifting the pol up and when shots weren’t being made, I could see his concentration levels were there,” said Shiva’s first coach Rakesh Singh, who is with the 10x Shooting academy in Faridabad.
Hory is made!
Kudos to the talented duo of @singhesha10 & Shiva Narwal, on bringing the nation’s 1st-ever 🥇 in the 10m Air Pol Mixed Team event & being crowned World Champions 🏆 at the ISSF World Championships
🇮🇳 is thrilled at your success. All the best to both of you. pic.twitter.com/5A7d7QF5B7
— Nisith Pramanik (@NisithPramanik) August 18, 2023
In the shootout on Friday for the gold medal, both Shiva and Esha Singh shot a score of 10 and above eight times in a match that spanned 13 shots. 18-year-old Esha started off with a 10.3 that gave India a 2-0 lead. That lead quickly became 4-0 but then Turkey got off three of the next series’ better and led 4-6 at one point.
But Esha swung the momentum back in favour of the Indians, scoring another 10.3 to even the scores. Shiva returned the favour in the next shot, hitting a 10.6. India won another point after that and suddenly the lead had become 10-6.Most Read
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It was then that the best point of the shootouts took place. Esha shot a 10.6 and Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec followed it with a cracking 10.5 — one that made the crowd gasp out loud. But then Shiva shot a 9.3 and Dikec’s teammate Sevval Tarhan shot a 9.7 to give the point to the Turks. At 10-8 and a crucial juncture of the shootout, the Indian No 2 shot a 10.6 and was helped both Turkish shooters shooting under 9 points. India picked up two more points in the next series to lead 14-8. They then lost the next two points but Esha ensured that there wouldn’t be any late hiccups with a 10.6 to end Turkey’s gold medal challenge.
The bronze medal was picked up China, who beat Iran in their shootout. Earlier in the qualifications, Shiva and Esha had shot 583 to top qualification. India’s other pair in the event Sarabjot Singh and TS Divya finished 22nd.
Tomar-Ghosh finish 9th
India was also represented in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. The duo of Aishwary Pratp Singh Tomar and Mehuli Ghosh finished 9th with a score of 630.2 while Divyansh Singh Panwar and Ramita shot a combined 628.3 to finish 17th. The cutoff for qualification 631.4. In the women’s skeet event, none of India’s participants made it to the final of the event.
