Doha: Indian shooting stars Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh experienced a bittersweet outing at the ongoing ISSF World Championship in Qatar. While the duo successfully led India to a gold medal in the Women’s 25m Pistol team event, they narrowly missed out on securing individual quotas for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The Indian trio, comprising Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, and Divya Subbaraju, put on a stellar team performance on Tuesday. Accumulating a total of 1,761 points, they comfortably clinched the team gold, outclassing formidable opponents. South Korea secured the silver medal with 1,748 points, while Vietnam settled for bronze with 1,745 points. Esha Singh emerged as the top performer for the Indian team, amassing an impressive 590 points—292 in the precision round and a brilliant 298 in the rapid round. Manu Bhaker and Divya Subbaraju contributed 587 and 584 points, respectively, cementing India’s dominance in the team category.
However, the individual events brought disappointment. Both Esha and Manu qualified for the individual finals, finishing third and sixth, respectively, in the qualification rounds. With three LA 2028 Olympic quota spots up for grabs among the eight finalists, hopes were high for the Indian contingent. Despite a valiant effort, Manu finished just shy of the podium in fourth place, while Esha concluded her campaign in the eighth position. Consequently, neither could translate their strong qualifying performances into an individual medal or the highly coveted Olympic quota.
Despite this setback, the Indian contingent has enjoyed considerable success across other events at the World Championship. Niveditha Velur Nair secured a bronze medal in the Women’s 25m Standard Pistol event, while Jaipal Malviya bagged silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol category.
The Men’s 50m Pistol team, featuring Ravinder Singh, Saurabh Chaudhary, and Amanpreet Singh, also brought home a gold medal, with Ravinder securing an individual silver as well. Additionally, the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar, and Shambhavi Kshirsagar won silver in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle team event, adding to India’s impressive medal tally at the tournament.