Olympian Esha Singh carried her excellent form from last year into the new season, clinching the women’s individual 10m air pistol gold and helping the home team to another top-podium finish, even as world champion Samrat Rana settled for bronze on the opening day of the Asian Championship (pistol/rifle) here on Wednesday.

Esha, 21, came from behind to score 239.8 in the final, fending off challenges from two Chinese Taipei shooters — Cheng Yen-Ching (235.4, silver) and Yu Ai-Wen (217.7, bronze). Meanwhile, Samrat bagged bronze (220.3) in the men’s 10m air pistol to finish behind Vladimir Svechnikov of Uzbekistan (242.0, gold) and Kazakhstan’s Valeriy Rakhimzhan (241.0, silver).