Pistol prodigy Esha Singh, adjudged the BYJU’s ‘Young Athlete of the Year (Female)‘ at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2022 on March 19, was presented with a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh and a Casio G-Shock watch.
Sportstar will track the progress of the BYJU’s Young Athletes – Esha and Nihal Sarin, throughout the year. We will bring you their updated rankings, highlights from the past month, expert views on their latest performances and more.
Esha got things rolling in October with a gold medal in 25m sports pistol at the National Games in Gujarat on the very first day of the month.
Fighting to stay alive in the contest at one point during the ranking round at the Rifle Club in Khanpur, there wouldn’t have been many in the audience who would have given her a chance. Her father and mentor Sachin, however, never gave up hope. After she made the medal match, courtesy of a solitary extra hit in a shoot-off against Haryana’s Vibhuti Bhatia, Sachin smiled and said, “Just made it... somehow!”
In the medal match, she found herself precariously placed over the edge of a precipice again, only a point ahead of bottom-placed Manu Bhaker until the end of the third five-shot series. With a perfect series (5/5) just before the elimination, she marked herself safe and even proceeded to get nine successful hits in the next 10 shots to move to the top. After that, there was no looking back as the 17-year-old finished with 26 points.
Sachin, beaming with pride, as his daughter climbed onto the podium, said, ”She has always been like this... She wins it out of nowhere.”
In Cairo, a few days later, Esha made headlines again, finishing the ISSF World Championship with four medals - three gold (10m air pistol women and mixed team and 25m pistol women) and a bronze (25m pistol women team) - in the junior category.
Esha is currently participating in the 15th Asian Airgun Championship (November 9-19) in Daegu, Korea.
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