India vs India at Asian Games: Palak defeats Esha to win gold, latter settles for silver in 10m air pistol

Asian Games 2023: Scripting history for India, Palak Gulia and Esha Singh competed with each other for the top podium finish at 10m air pistol shooting in Hanghzou on Friday. Palak Gulia won gold medal and Esha Singh settled with silver.

The third position was secured by Pakistan’s Talat Kishmala who gave a tough fight to Esha. With this victory, the total tally of medals in shooting reached to 17, six of them gold.

Notably, this is the first major individual medal for the 17-year-old Palak in an international competition after she came on the shooting scene just last year. She shot 242.1 in the finals for an Asian Games record.

Soon after Palak’s victory, celebrations began back at home in Haryana. Her family and relatives celebrated her success by bursting crackers and offering sweets to neighbours.

Esha had won the individual silver in 25 m pistol on Wednesday and was also the part of the triumvirate that won the 10m air pistol team silver along with Palak and Divya TS earlier on Friday. The women’s team settled for silver, by scoring 239.7.

Before the stupendous performance by lady shooters, India’s men team won gold in the 50m rifle arena. In the competition, the men’s 3-positions team, comprising the young trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (591), Swapnil Kusale (591) and Akhil Sheoran (587), surpassed its Chinese competitors to create a world record score of 1769 to take the top podium finish. Hosts China were a clear six points adrift with 1763 points, while South Korea were a distant third with 1748 points.