Esha Singh (born 1 January 2005) is an Indian
amateur shooter.
She became the national champion in the 10m Air Pistol category in 2018 in 2018. She won silver medal at Junior World Cup at Suhl,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
in 2019, two gold medals at Asian Junior Championships in 10m Air Pistol Women (AP60W) and 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team (APMIX). Besides 10m Air Pistol, she also competes in 25m Standard Pistol and 25m Pistol events.
Singh was also selected for India's core training team for the
Tokyo Olympics.
Personal life and background
Esha Singh was born to Sachin Singh and Srilatha on 1 January 2005 in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. Her father was a
rally driver
Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
. Before she took up shooting, Singh tried go-karting,
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
and skating. A visit to the shooting range at
Gachibowli Athletic Stadium
Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi Athletic Stadium, formerly known as the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium ( te, జి. ఎం. సి. బాలయోగి అథ్లెటిక్ స్టేడియం), is a multipurpose stadium situated in t ...
in Hyderabad motivated her to choose air pistol. She trained at the stadium and simultaneously at her home, in the paper practice range built by her father. She later joined the Gun for Glory academy by former Olympic medallist
Gagan Narang
Gagan Narang (born 6 May 1983) is an Indian sport shooter, supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He won the bronze medal in the Men's 10 m Air Rifle Event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a final score of 701.1 on 30 July 2012.
Earl ...
in Pune, Maharashtra.
Professional career
Singh began shooting in 2014, and in 2015 became Telangana state champion in 10m air pistol category. Esha defeated
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...
and Youth Olympics gold-medalist
Manu Bhaker
Manu Bhaker is an Indian Olympian who competes at airgun shooting. She represented India at the 2018 ISSF World Cup and won two gold medals. She is the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. She won the gold medal in women's ...
and multi-medalist
Heena Sidhu
Heena Sidhu (born 29 August 1989) is an Indian sport shooter. On 7 April 2014, Sidhu became the first Indian pistol shooter to reach number one in world rankings by the International Shooting Sport Federation. In 2013, Sidhu became the first In ...
in 62nd National Shooting Championships at
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
,
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...
by winning gold in 10m Air Pistol event and thus became the youngest champion in the senior category as a 13-year-old. She also won gold medals in youth and junior categories.
At the second edition of Khelo India Youth Games in January 2019, Singh won gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol event in the under-17 category. Esha won gold at Asian Airgun Championships in
Taoyuan, Taiwan
Taoyuan () is a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan Distri ...
, in March–April, 2019 in the junior category of 10m Air Pistol event.
At the ISSF Junior World Cup in July 2019 in Suhl,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, Esha won a silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol Women. She also won a bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event there. In 25m Standard Pistol and 25m Pistol events her ranking was 22 and 41 respectively. Singh went on to win individual and mixed team gold medals at Asian Shooting Championship in
Doha, Qatar
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the cou ...
, in November 2019 in 10m Air Pistol (Junior) event.
Esha has been selected for the Indian core team for
Tokyo Olympics. She had failed to finish among the top two to qualify for the
Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
in the qualification event held in February 2020. Postponement Tokyo Olympics gave her a chance to qualify.
In 2020, she received the
Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar
The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar () is a civilian honour in India.
The award has two categories: ''Bal Shakti Puraskar'', awarded to Indian citizens under the age of 18 for outstanding achievement in innovation, scholastic achievement ...
, a civilian award bestowed upon achievers under the age of 18.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Esha
Indian female sport shooters
Sportswomen from Hyderabad, India
2005 births
Living people
21st-century Indian women