Esha Singh

Esha Singh (born 1 January 2005) is an Indian amateur shooter from Hyderabad, Telangana state, supported by OGQ. She became the National Champion in the 10m Air Pistol category in 2018 at the age of 13 and created history. she will represent India in the 10m air pistol at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Personal life and background
Esha was born to Sachin Singh and Srilatha on 1 January 2005 in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Her father was a rally driver. Before she took up shooting, Singh tried go-karting, badminton, tennis and skating. A visit to the shooting range at Gachibowli Athletic Stadium 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 in Pune, Maharashtra.

Domestic
Singh began shooting in 2014 and in 2015, she became the Telangana state champion in 10m air pistol category. She then defeated the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold-medalist Manu Bhaker and multi-medalist Heena Sidhu in 62nd National Shooting Championships at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala by winning gold in 10m Air Pistol event becoming 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.

International
She clinched an Olympic quota berth in the 10m Air Pistol category for the Paris Olympic Games at the Asian Qualifier at Jakarta on 8 January 2024.

Earlier, she created history at the age of 18 by winning 4 medals at the 19th Asian Games, Hangzhou 2022. She won silver medal at the ISSF Junior World Cup at Suhl, Germany in 2019 and two gold medals at the 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. She was the 25m Jr World Champion in 2022 at Cairo, Egypt. She won the Gold Medal in the 25m Pistol team event for India and an individual silver medal in the 25m Pistol event at the Asian Games 2022 held at Gangzhou, China.

Earlier, Singh won gold at the Asian Airgun Championships in Taoyuan, Taiwan in March–April, 2019 in the junior category of 10m Air Pistol event. In 25m Standard Pistol and 25m Pistol events her ranking was 22 and 41 respectively. In November 2019, Singh went on to win individual and mixed team gold medals at Asian Shooting Championship in Doha, Qatar in 10m Air Pistol (Junior) event.

Singh was also selected for India's core training team for the Tokyo Olympics, but failed to finish among the top two to qualify for the Olympics in the qualification event held in February 2020. Postponement of Tokyo Olympics gave her a chance to qualify. Esha has qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Awards

 * In 2023, she was conferred with the Arjuna Award.
 * In 2020, she received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, a civilian award for achievers under 18.