Air Pistol Individual Final: It was an India v Pakistan war in China as Palak Gulia and Esha Singh battled with Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat to win gold and silver in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol Individual Final at the Asian Games here on Friday.
Palak had qualified seventh among eight participants while Esha was placed 5th and Kishmala in third position as China’s Nan Zhao and Ranxin Jiang shot Asian Games records in the Qualifying stage with 581 each. Palak had a score of 577, Esha was at 579 while the Pakistani shooter had a score of 580.
However, in the final, the Indians turned the tables overtaking everyone to win gold and silver — Palak Gulia taking gold and Esha winning silver. The Pakistan shooter maintained a steady score as she took the bronze medal.
Palak had a score of 242.1 in the final, which is an Asian Games record while Esha had a score of 239.7 while Kishmala had a score of 218.2.
In the final, the two Indian shooters were in a different zone as the Chinese shooters faded away, getting out of the medals bracket after the first two rounds of five shots each.
Esha zoomed up to the second position after the five shots as she scored 50.8 while Hong Kong’s Ho Ching Shing topped with 50.9.
In the second series, Palak shot 50.8 while Esha shot 50.2 to take the lead. Shing of Hong Kong China shot 8.1 and 8.2 in a total of 44.8 and fell behind.
From there the Indian shooters remained in the top two positions. Shing of Hong Kong was the first to get eliminated and was followed by China’s Nan Zhao. Vietnam’s Thu Vinh Trinh, China’s Ranxin Jiang and Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chiaying followed suit.
Finally, it came between Esha and Kishmala and the Indian eliminated the Pakistan shooter shot a 9.3 and 9.0 in the final series, succumbing to the nerves and finishing in third position.
Esha, who has a knack for zooming up the rankings in the finals, couple of 9.5s in the final two series as she finished second behind her compatriot.
