World Record holder Esha Singh wins silver medal after thrilling shoot-offs in final

India's Esha Singh settled for a silver medal after a thrilling final in women's 25m pistol final on September 28 at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026. After beating Korea's Hyon Suk Kim in shootoffs, the World Record holder Esha fought hard in a thrilling final shoot-off clash against China's Jiaruixuan Xiao but missed out on a gold medal.

In the opening series, Esha took an early lead. She followed it up with four hits in the second series. She slipped to the second place after a three-hit series. She drew level with Xiao after the fourth series. After 25 shots, she was tied with Xiao and Kim. She produced a five-hit series after slipping to third and assured herself of a medal. 

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Esha and Kim engaged in a shoot-off. In the first two shoot-off series, both of them recorded three hits. Esha knocked out Kim who had to settled for a bronze. 

ALSO READ: World Record holder Esha Singh wins silver medal after thrilling shoot-offs in final

In the shoot-off for the gold medal, Esha and Xiao finished with 38 points leading to a shoot-off. In the second shoot-off, Esha managed to hit two starts while Xiao hit three. The 21-year-old lost the thrilling final but secured a silver medal.

India's medals tally grows to 39 at the Asian Games 2026. Esha's silver was India's 17th in the tournament.

Another silver for Esha 

This is Esha's second consecutive silver in the Asian Games. In Hangzhou 2023 edition, she had won a silver medal in women’s 25m pistol individual event and a gold medal in team event. She bagged a silver each in women’s 10m air pistol individual and team events in Hangzhou 2023 as well. 

In individual events, she had bagged a silver in World Cup earlier this year.