–by Pratyusha Mukherjee, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan
Indian shooters Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal secured the bronze medal in the mixed team skeet event at the 20th Asian Games on Thursday, finishing third in the final with a score of 44.
The Indian duo entered the medal round in fourth position after compiling a combined qualification score of 138/150, with scores of 44, 47 and 47 across the three rounds. Qatar topped the qualification standings with 145, followed by the Republic of Korea with 143 and China with 140.
In the final, Naruka and Dhaliwal maintained their composure across six series, recording scores of 7, 7, 7, 8, 7 and 8 to aggregate 44 and secure the bronze medal.
China claimed the gold medal with a score of 52, setting a world record, while the Republic of Korea took silver with 51.
The podium finish capped an impressive two-day campaign for India’s skeet shooters. Naruka and Dhaliwal had both been part of the bronze-medal-winning teams on Wednesday, with Naruka contributing to the men’s team bronze and Dhaliwal joining Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan in securing bronze in the women’s team event.
Naruka also narrowly missed out on an individual medal, finishing fourth in the men’s final, while Dhaliwal reached the eight-shooter women’s final and finished eighth.
Earlier on Thursday, India’s 10m air pistol men’s team of Kamaljeet, Aakash Bhardwaj and Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve finished fourth in qualification with a combined score of 1727-53x, missing out on a place in the final. China topped the qualification standings, followed by Indonesia and Japan.
Individually, Kamaljeet scored 580-18x, Aakash Bhardwaj 579-20x, and Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve 568-15x.
Image Credit: NRAI
