Asian Games | Naruka-Parinaaz duo clinches bronze; pistol shooters disappoint

India's Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, left, and Parinaaz Dhaliwal react after the skeet mixed team final at the Asian Games, in Toyota, Japan, on September 24, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP The shotgun contingent saved the blushes yet again for Indian shooting on a day the pistol team drew a blank at the Aichi General Shooting Range here on Thursday, with the country still waiting for its maiden gold in the sport.Anantjeet Singh Naruka, having missed an individual medal by the narrowest of margins on Wednesday, teamed up with Parinaaz Dhaliwal to win bronze in mixed team skeet, the country’s first-ever in the event at the Asian Games. The men’s 10m air pistol squad, however, disappointed with all three not making the final and also failing to bag a team medal. India had won the team gold in the previous edition.Kamaljeet, Aakash Bhardwaj and Kedarling Uchaganve stumbled while the trio stood fourth. Kamaljeet came the closest, finishing ninth with 580 points, just one off the final qualification spot. Having started well and scored a perfect 100 in his third series, Kamaljeet had poor rounds of 94 and 93 that affected his chances of advancing.Bhardwaj shot 579 to come 11th. Uchaganve had a forgettable outing, finishing 35th with a total of 568. The combined score of 1727 was not enough to go past Japan: Uchaganve’s last series of 92 allowed the hosts to jump to third and complete the podium with 1730 points.Naruka and Parinaaz, meanwhile, started slow in qualification with a 44 in the opening round before scoring 47 each in the next two to make the final with 138 points, one point ahead of Kuwait. The final saw a close battle before India and Korea shot identical 44 points, the Koreans edging ahead by virtue of their higher finish in the qualifying phase.“We had a difficult start: both of us didn’t shoot well in the first round but we told each other that we can still get it. We wanted to fight till the last target and that’s what we did,” Naruka said. “We both are aggressive and rhythmic shooters, so it just works quite well. He is shooting ahead of me, so I see that and it gives me that recall,” Parinaaz said.The pistol squad had its first victim with Kamaljeet replacing Uchaganve in the mixed team event to partner Suruchi Phogat. “The Federation has finalised the composition for the mixed pistol team event following a review of performances over the past few months, including the Asian Games preparation camps and the recent World Cup. The final composition takes into account current form, overall performance data and the specific requirements of the event, with a view to achieving the best possible performance for India,” High Performance Director Pierre Beauchamp said. Published - September 24, 2026 07:05 pm IST