India’s average start to its shooting campaign at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya extended into its fourth day without a gold medal in sight. While the men’s and women’s skeet teams won a bronze each, worryingly, it was the one event where the Indians had sent their strongest group, which failed to find its mark.Esha Singh is currently the No.2 ranked 10m air pistol shooter in the world, and Suruchi Singh Phogat, a young phenom who took the world of shooting by storm in her debut year, winning three World Cups including a stacked Munich edition, is ranked third in the world. The duo, along with Paris Olympic double bronze medallist Manu Bhaker rounding the team off, are a formidable pistol trio that is easily among the best in the world on any given day.But on Wednesday, the sport of shooting threw a curveball at the Indians, once again showcasing that the consistency of scores is never a given and medals scarcely a guarantee. India failed to pick up an individual honour, and even missed out on team accolades despite the star-studded lineup. Hangzhou lent itself three medals in the same event, but Aichi came up empty-handed.“Bad day in the office,” admitted coach Ronak Pandit from Aichi on Wednesday. “Manu did well both in qualification and finals, no doubt. Suruchi and Esha gave it their all honestly but unfortunately this is all that could muster today. It happens, that is sport. But of course there will be some analysing to find out if there is anything that came in the way. First emotions have to calm down and when the mind is rational, we shall analyse and plug gaps.”Bhaker was the only bright spot in the dark skies that were B-roll for broadcasters on Wednesday as Typhoon Dujuan lashed Japan. On a day where the best that a shooter could muster in qualification was a low score of 582, Bhaker finished third with a score of 579 and with it, third in qualification. Esha hit 572 with just 12 inner tens, and Suruchi went lower, managing a poor score of 568 with twelve inner tens. Both of India’s ranked, in-form shooters, handed in a seriously questionable shift at work. Double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker ended fifth in the individual competition as India finished without a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event. (PTI Photo)Suruchi in particular faltered spectacularly in her first-ever multi-sport event. It was a crushing blow young into her career, hitting three 93s and a 94 in qualification on a day where the competition and the magnitude of the event was prime for a crowning.On Suruchi, the Indian pistol coach said, “After scoring centuries a cricketer does get out on a duck. It is sport, it happens. Of course she put in the hard work and tried her best even today but at the end of the day she is human and there is absolutely no margin for error. Sad and unfortunate that it happened at the Games but as the coaching team we will definitely take this seriously and debrief them to understand and fix the problem because we anticipated and prepared for every eventuality and yet fell short so the entire team has to work on it, not just the athlete,” he added.Story continues below this adAfter the adrenaline of the poor showing had passed, Pandit admitted, “Sometimes all they need is a pat on the back for fighting. And they did fight hard.”According to the Indian coach, nothing outward was happening that saw reduced qualification scores among the shooters. “No, conditions had no role to play, that was fine,” he said.In her broadcast interview Manu Bhaker said, “The qualifications were a challenge. I was really positive, but also very nervous. For the finals as well, I was genuinely trying for every shot every time.”Bhaker was the lone shooter from India who qualified for the finals. The seasoned medallist rarely pushes domestically anymore but stirs into life at bigger events. On Wednesday, her 20 inner tens in qualification were a sign that among the three Indians, only she was truly up for it.Story continues below this adBut the finals painted a different story where Bhaker was finding shots in the low 10s and high 9s but never into the mid 10s that are the hallmark of a form shooter. She exited the competition in fifth position. “I feel that I’ve improved a lot in terms of my 10m performances – qualifications as well as finals,” said Bhaker afterwards. Both she and Esha Singh have the 25m pistol event to look forward to next.India has now won seven medals at the shooting events at the Asiad. But that elusive yellow metal continues to evade four days in.