Esha Singh walks into the Asian Games at Aichi-Nagoya the world no 1 in the women’s 25m pistol, and world no 2 in the women’s 10m air pistol event. At 21, the Indian shooter has already tasted success at the Asian Games, winning two individual silver medals and a team gold in Hangzhou. Her scintillating form over the last 18 months point to a repeat of her Hangzhou heroics – 25m World Championship bronze medal, two World Cup titles, a world record score of 43 – Esha has been near unstoppable. As if the 25m dominance wasn’t enough, she added a 10m World Cup silver medal won in Munich this year as well.

“In the last Asian Games, Esha went and won the silver medals in both individual events as well the gold and silver in team. There will be higher expectations this time and as a human being, Esha will know it in the back of her mind too. The important thing is such things are bound to happen and we train accordingly. There is no magic pill to forget but then training and focus means you cut out the noise. If one follows what he/she has practiced, results will follow,” says Ronak Pandit, Indian shooting High Performance Manager and Technical Director and Singh’s coach.

In Japan, Asia’s best will be present. Pistol shooting enjoys a strong Asian presence – Paris Olympics 10m air pistol champion Oh Ye-jin of Korea and 10m air pistol world champion and 25m world silver medallist Yao Qianxun from China will also be competing in both the events. Singh will also see the ever-present challenge from Paris Olympic double-medallist Manu Bhaker in both the events apart from the gauntlet thrown down by world no 3 and three-time World Cup champion Suruchi Phogat in the 10m event.

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That path to gold gets further complicated as Tokyo Olympics mixed team champion and Individual silver medallist Jiang Ranxin will also be among the 10m pistol field apart from Paris Olympics champion Yang Ji-in of Korea and Paris Olympics silver medallist Xiao Jiaruixuan of China being the title contenders in the 25m event. In Cairo, Singh had won the bronze with Ji-in winning the title and Qianxun winning the silver. In the World Cup in Munich this year, Singh won the title in the 25m final as well a silver behind Phogat in 10m pistol, with her competing in a field including Ji-in and former world champion Doreen Vennekemp of Germany in the 25m and Yiyao and London Olympics silver medallist Celine Goberville of France in the 10m.

Her 25m title in Munich came when she broke the previous world score of 42 set by Ye-ji before she won the silver in the 10m event two days later. Singh had talked about how she competes with herself and does not think about her opponents. “I don’t really see who is standing besides me or the names who are in the final and I just aim to focus on my thoughts and my process and that’s what I did. 25m pistol is definitely a challenging game. The whole dynamics are a bit different and since there are no decimals, it’s a very tight game,” Singh had said earlier.

Since 2025, Singh has made it to the four finals in 25m and three 10m finals in ISSF World Cups. Pandit talks about how the 21-year-old has maintained the balance.

“The starting sequence with the gun for both remains the same. So that lessens one variable. But then maintaining the right balance is tricky. When you find one event easier or do well, then you train more in that. It’s like if one is good in science, then he will give it more time as compared to if he is average in maths or vice versa.

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“It cannot be a 50-50 balance but we compensate by doing live fire in one event and dry fire in another during training. 25m is about the ability to lift more consistently as well as the continuity of trigger. In 10m, Esha is technically very strong. So we have been working on the tactical part. She is an aggressive triggering shooter and does not overthink.” says Pandit.

Over the last few months, Pandit has been re-enforcing only one thing in Esha’s shooting. “When she made the world record, we did not even talk about it. We talked about how she was technically flawless and how we can better ourselves. The conversations are how competition keeps changing but the task remains the same. To shoot your best,” says Pandit.