It was double delight for India on the fourth day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol competition in Munich as Suruchi Inder Singh won the gold medal and Esha Singh won the silver medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event, taking India to the top of the medal tally.
Suruchi shot 242.1 to retain the gold medal she won last year at the Olympic shooting range, while her senior teammate settled for silver with a score of 241.2. Korean Chu Geun won the bronze. India now has two gold and one silver medal in the second ISSF World Cup stage of this year, with two mixed events of rifle and pistol remaining to be played on Saturday (May 30, 2026).
Earlier today, the two of them barely made it into the final, claiming the final two qualifying spots. Both shot 578, edging out reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin by one point. Chu topped the list with a score of 583, while London Olympic silver medalist Celine Goberville of France and Bulgaria’s Miroslava Mincheva (580), the reigning European champion who won bronze in the 25m pistol event two days earlier, also qualified.
Suruchi started slower than Esha, and was in fifth place after the first five singles shots. At this point, Esha was in third place behind Celine and Chu. As the final became more intense, Suruchi began to find her rhythm, while Esha and Celine’s performances fluctuated, and Chu appeared poised to take the lead.
By the 14th round, Suruchi was challenging Choo for the gold medal because she scored more than 10 points in three rounds in a row. Celine and Esha trailed in fourth and fifth places. The 15th and 16th rounds were the most exciting, with Celine and Esha first reaching joint third place, and then Celine dropping out in sixth, while the two Indians after Choo reached medal positions.
The pressure then mounted on Choo, as Suruchi and Esha were close until the tenth round. Suruchi overtook Choo after the 19th round, and Esha secured the bronze medal after the 20th round.
Esha had to take a 1.2-point lead over Suruchi in the last two shots. This lead shrank to 1.3 before the 24th and final shot, and despite Esha’s 10.7 points, Suruchi’s 10.3 points helped her easily retain her Munich gold medal. “There’s never any pressure on me,” said the young athlete after winning her fourth World Cup and fifth ISSF gold medal in two years.
Esha also won a commendable second medal in the competition, having won gold in the women’s 25m pistol event on Wednesday with a world record score.
