"VAN" (Sports Desk - 14.09.2025) :: India's Esha Singh held on in Ningbo to an early lead for her first ISSF World Cup victory, defeating some of those most prominent names in the women's 10m air pistol event.
She narrowly stopped another home win, doing just enough to hold off the encroaching Yao Qianxun. Meanwhile, Germany's Florian Peter won his first individual World Cup gold medal in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol.
Women's 10m Pistol
Yao Qianxun has been on fire with Hu Kai in the mixed team event, winning two golds and two silvers together. Adding to this, she has two 10m air pistol bronze medals to her name this season, as well as one from the 25m pistol, earlier in Ningbo. Finishing as the top qualifier on 584 alongside Olympic champion Oh Ye-jin from the Republic of Korea and the consistent Hungarian Veronika Major, confidence was high.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Esha Singh managed to progress in the last position, joined by her compatriot Rhythm Sangwan. Top performers Trinh Thu VInh of Vietnam and Serbia's Olympic mixed team champion Zorana Arunovic were also in the field, beside Zeng Zhuwenxi from the home country.
Despite being the bottom two qualifiers, it was Sangwan and Singh who started the final in the lead. While Sangwan had dropped off by the end of the first competition stage, Singh was the outright leader heading into stage two. Major, Yao and Oh were all close behind, but would lose a lot of ground over the next four shots. A 0.2-point lead turned into 0.7 to Major, with Yao and Oh significantly further behind. This was partly thanks to a score of 10.8 from the leader.
That lead nearly vanished as Singh scored a 9.0, bringing the Hungarian just 0.1 points behind. Crucially for Singh, when there was a low score, she would back it up with a high score. For five consecutive series she scored 10.7 and above. For Major, she could not keep the pressure on, nor keep her advantage to the chasing two. Her next four shots were all 9.6 and below, seeing her exit in fourth.
By this point, Oh, who was neck-and-neck with Yao, also lost touch following a low score, as the Chinese athlete performed well. The Korean was unable to bridge the huge gap. For Yao, she was now just 0.5 points behind Singh. While a combined score of 19.7 would be enough to worry up losing your lead, Yao could only score 20.1, meaning Singh held on, finishing with 242.6 to Yao's 242.5, who is still chasing her first individual World Cup gold.
Sangwan would finish fifth, following by Arunovic, Trinh and Zeng.
Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
Florian Peter is no stranger to the final. The 25-year-old has made the top six a remarkable 11 times, but never stood on the top of the podium. He has even won ISSF World Cup Final gold and silver. This season, he took silver in his home country when Munich held the previous leg, bringing him confidence coming to Ningbo.
The German and his teammate Emanuel Mueller were joined by the familiar Frenchmen, Tokyo 2020 champion Jean Quiquampoix and Clement Bessaguet, as well as Czech athlete Matej Rampula and Omar Abdelhady Mohamed from Egypt. Peter and Bessaguet would set the standard, opening with a perfect five shots. While Peter missed one in his next series, they would both score a perfect five again. By the end of the first competition stage, Bessaguet had a perfect 15 to Peter's 14. Quiquampoix was next on 11.
When the eliminations came, Bessaguet's streak ended. He missed three of his next five to give the German the lead and have his teammate just two behind him. Two missed shots from Peter would then draw them level again, with Quiquampoix just one behind. There was a sizable gap to the rest as Rampula and Abdelhady Mohamed would exit in fifth and sixth, with Mueller unable to break the top three either.
A perfect series from Peter would give him a two-shot lead as the French athletes sat together. This remained the same after the next one, leading to a shoot-off, which was won by Quiquampoix. Despite a perfect five shots from the chasing athlete, Peter would miss just once in his last five, giving him that victory that had always just been out of reach. The top two finished on 34 and 33 respectively.
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