Varun and Esha clinch Olympic quotas in 10m air pistol at Asian qualifiers

On competition day one of the Asian Olympic Qualification Rifle/Pistol event at the Senayan Shooting range in Jakarta, Indonesia, Varun Tomar and Esha Singh triumphed in the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events, respectively, to beautifully secure India’s 14th and 15th Olympic quota spots for Paris 2024. Varun and Esha both won with commanding margins of 2.6 and 6.8, respectively, showcasing their superiority.

While Varun Tomar is a 20-year-old army marksman who got into the senior team only last year, Esha is still in her teens. It was a double podium in both the Olympic events for India as Arjun Cheema won silver in the men’s pistol while Rhythm Sangwan won bronze in the women’s competition, displaying India’s continental might in the sport.

Mongolian Davaakhuu Enkhtaivan won bronze in the men’s event to win the second available quota, while Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat’s silver-winning performance in the women’s, brought a historic first-ever women’s shooting Olympic quota for her country.
Each country could win only one of the two quota places on offer, so Arjun missed out. The Indian trio of Varun, Arjun and Ujjwal also won the men’s team gold, as did the women’s team of Esha, Rhythm and Surbhi as India topped the standings at the end of day one with four golds and a total of six medals.

Varun had a brilliant day of shooting overall. His score of 586 top the 55-field qualification, was by far his best in international competition and the best he has shot over the past 12 months or so. To do it when it mattered, speaks volumes of his preparedness.

“There are always nerves,” he said when asked about his start in the final where he had just five low to slim 10s for his first 12-shots, compared to seven mid-to-high ones for the last dozen.

“Last year was one of my first year in the senior team and after a good start, there was a bit of up and down as I felt I was gaining experience. It is evident that hard work in training pays off,” a confident Tomar added.

With Korean Lee Wonho and Pakistan’s Gulfam Joseph having already secured their quotas in earlier competitions, Varun and Arjun had to fight for one quota with four others, including Iranian Sajad Poorhosseini, Uzbek Mukhammad Kamalov and Kazakh Valeriy Rakhimzhan, besides Davaakhuu.

Tomar found it difficult to enter the 10-ring to begin with, however, Cheema held his own to shoot over 50 after the first five-shot series to take an early lead in the 24-shot final.