India’s skeet shooters add two bronzes to Asian Games tally

India won two shooting bronzes at the Asian Games on Wednesday, with Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill prevailing in a shoot-off for the men’s skeet medal, while Maheshwari Chauhan, Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal won the women’s bronze

Nagoya: Indian shooters continued to add medals to the country’s tally at the Asian Games 2026, winning bronze medals in the men’s and women’s skeet team events on Wednesday.

India’s men’s skeet team of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill finished level with Kazakhstan on 346 points before prevailing in a tense shoot-off to claim the bronze.

Earlier in the day, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan also won bronze in the women’s skeet team event.

Naruka led India’s effort in qualification with 119 out of a possible 125, while Mairaj Ahmed Khan added 116 and Bhavtegh Singh Gill contributed 111 to the team’s combined total.

With Kazakhstan matching India’s tally, the bronze medal came down to a shoot-off, which the Indian trio won to secure the podium finish.

The result marked India’s second shooting bronze of the day, following the women’s skeet team medal earlier in the session, and extended the country’s strong run in the discipline at the Games.

Naruka’s individual qualification form also took him into the men’s skeet individual final, where he narrowly missed out on a second medal of the day. Qatar’s Al-Athba won gold with an Asian Record score of 34, ahead of China’s Lyu Jianlin on 33 for silver, while Chinese Taipei’s Lee claimed bronze with 29.

Naruka finished fourth on 25/28, falling one point short of the podium.

In the women’s skeet competition, after three days of qualification, Parinaaz, Raiza and Maheshwari shot a combined 331 to finish third. China’s Che Yufei, Jian Yiting and Jiang Chaoyu won gold with 347, while Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay, Zoya Piskun and Adel Sadakbayeva took silver with 336.

Later, double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol individual final.

South Korea’s Gaeun Choo won gold with an Asian Record and Games Record score of 246.3, while China’s Yiyao Shen (241.3) and Ranxin Jiang (221.6) took silver and bronze, respectively.

Manu, who entered the individual final after finishing third in qualification with 579, including 20 inner 10s, shot 181.1 in the eight-shooter final. India missed out on a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol after finishing fourth in the team event.

India finished fourth in the team event with an aggregate score of 1719-44x, while Vietnam claimed bronze with 1719-46x. China won gold with 1735-56x and South Korea took silver with 1730-55x.

Manu will now shift her focus to the 25m pistol event, where she will compete alongside Esha and 2018 Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat.

With the two skeet team bronzes, India’s shooting medal tally rose to six, comprising four silver and two bronze medals.

At the previous edition of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, India claimed seven gold, nine silver and six bronze medals for an unprecedented haul of 22 medals.

Correction note: I changed “Razia Dhillon” to Raiza Dhillon, consistent with the name used elsewhere in the copy and the established spelling.