India’s quota hunt takes another hit as Manu, Esha miss 25m pistol medals

FILE PHOTO: Manu Bhaker (left) and Esha Singh finished outside the medals in 25m pistol on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

India settled for the women’s 25m pistol team gold after ace shooters Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh failed to deliver in the individual final, squandering another opportunity to win medals and secure quota places for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics at the ISSF World Championships on Tuesday.

While Esha finished eighth, Manu narrowly missed the podium, ending fourth.

South Korea’s Yang Jiin struck gold with a world record score of 44. Vietnam’s Trinh Thu Vinh took silver with 43, while China’s Zhang Yueyue claimed bronze with 34. All three medal winners also secured Olympic quota places for their respective countries.

Both Esha, a multiple Asian Games medallist, and Manu, a double Olympic bronze medallist at the Paris 2024 Games, had qualified for the eight-shooter final after impressive performances in the qualification round, finishing third and sixth respectively.

However, neither could carry that form into the final, extending India’s disappointing run in the competition, where 36 LA Olympics quota places are on offer.

Esha, who had won individual silver in the event at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya recently, was the first to bow out after a patchy performance. She managed just 11 hits from a possible 20 across four series of 1, 5, 3 and 2 to finish eighth.

Manu, meanwhile, survived multiple shoot-offs but fell agonisingly short of a medal, finishing fourth with 27 hits.

India has so far secured just one Olympic quota place through men’s 10m air pistol shooter Jaypal Malviya.

The country’s campaign has been marred by underwhelming performances, particularly in rifle events, while the disqualification of rifle shooter Sambhavi Kshirsagar over an equipment-related failure has added to the concerns.

AS IT HAPPENED

The repeated inability of Indian shooters to sustain momentum in pressure situations has also raised questions about the country’s high-performance programme, which has seen substantial investment under high-performance director Pierre Beauchamp and his team of Indian and international experts.

Esha, however, had been in impressive form in the qualification round.

The 21-year-old from Hyderabad topped the Indian challenge with 590 over two days. Her score, combined with Manu’s 587 and Divya Subbaraju’s 584, gave India an aggregate of 1761 to clinch the team gold.

South Korea won silver with 1748, while Vietnam took bronze with 1745.

Earlier, Divya narrowly missed out on qualifying, finishing 10th.

Esha produced a superb recovery in Tuesday’s Rapid round after managing 292 in Monday’s Precision round. She shot series of 100, 98 and 100 for a Rapid-round score of 298, taking her overall tally to 590.

Manu also bounced back from a modest 289 in the Precision round, firing 99, 99 and 100 in the Rapid round to secure her place in the final.

However, the women’s trap team made a disappointing start, with Asian Games double gold medallist Neeru Dhanda enduring a forgettable opening day in the three-day qualification competition.

Neeru, who had won both the individual and mixed team gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, managed scores of 20 and 19 in the first two rounds of 25 shots each to aggregate 39 and languish at 69th among 77 shooters.

Pragati Dubey was India’s best-placed shooter at 18th with a total of 46 (24, 22), while Manisha Keer stood 41st with 43 (23, 20), leaving all three with a considerable task ahead to stay in contention for a place in the eight-shooter final.

The shooters will have two more rounds of 25 shots each on Wednesday, followed by the fifth and final round of qualification on Thursday. The top eight will advance to the final.