“I do aim to lead from the start because 25m is so tight and it’s important to do that,” Singh told The Indian Express from Munich. “I don’t really see who is standing beside me or the names who are in the final. I just aim to focus on my thoughts and my process and that’s what I did.”

The 25m pistol is a different discipline from the 10m air pistol event where Singh first made her name. In qualification, shooters complete six series of five shots each in a precision stage – each shot within four seconds – and six series in a rapid stage where the target turns toward the shooter for just three seconds. The final is held entirely in rapid series, with three seconds to raise, aim and shoot, and seven seconds to rest. There are no decimals. Every point is binary. “25m pistol is definitely a challenging game,” Singh said. “The whole dynamics are a bit different and it’s a very tight game.”

Esha Singh after winning the 25m pistol title in Munich World Cup. (ISSF)

Singh started training in the discipline in 2022, when she was 17. Pandit’s first task was to make the transition feel manageable.

“Our initial focus was to make her see the transition from 10m pistol to 25m pistol as not challenging,” he said. The technical adjustments were significant – the trigger weight in 25m pistol is one kilogram, against 500 grams in the 10m event. The slower lift was built into her technique gradually, repeated until both mind and body were accustomed to it. As the rules changed to tighten the precision stage from five seconds to four, they worked on shooting faster too.

Singh qualified fourth for the final with a score of 587 – 293 in precision, 294 in rapid. In the final she was flawless through the first three series. Her first miss came off the opening shot of the fourth series. She missed one in the fifth, two in the seventh. But a perfect series of five in the eighth secured her medal, and three hits in the final series took her past Yeji’s world record to 43.

It was not her first significant result in the discipline. Last year she won silver in the World Cup in Argentina in a field that included Manu Bhaker and Paris Olympic bronze medallist Veronika Major. Months later she won bronze at the World Championships in Cairo. This year she won the Asian title. Munich was the next item on the list.

“I would see it as something I would tick off from my bucket list which was Munich World Cup,” she said. “I am really happy.”

With the World Championships in Doha later this year offering the first LA Olympic quotas, Singh will look to seal a berth in either the 10m or 25m event. Pandit knows the work is not done.

“She knows that consistency will be key in the next two years and she will be eager for more titles now,” he said.

The slower lift, repeated until it became instinct. Four years of work, one world record. Esha Singh put the pistol down in Munich knowing exactly what she had built.