NAGOYA, JAPAN – The precision and poise of Indian shooting were once again on full display at the 20th Asian Games as Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal secured a hard-fought bronze medal in the mixed skeet team event. On a high-stakes Thursday at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, the duo navigated a tense final round to etch their names into the history books, capping off what has been a watershed tournament for Indian skeet shooting.
A Tense Finale on the Range
The road to the podium was anything but straightforward. Entering the medal round after a grueling qualification process—where they secured the fourth seed with a total of 138 points from 150 targets—the Indian pair knew they had to perform under intense pressure.
As the final unfolded, the competition turned into a tactical chess match. India’s progression was methodical, hitting their marks with a cadence of 7, 14, 21, 29, 36, and finally 44 across the six series. For much of the contest, India remained locked in a dead heat with the Republic of Korea.
When the dust settled, both India and Korea sat at 44 hits. Under tournament regulations, the tiebreaker was determined by qualification standing. Because Korea had entered the medal round with a superior qualifying score (143 points compared to India’s 138), they were granted the passage to the gold-medal duel against China. China ultimately clinched the top spot on the podium with 52 hits, while Korea took silver with 51. Despite missing the gold-medal match, the bronze medal was a well-deserved reward for an Indian performance defined by grit and consistency, particularly in holding off a late-challenging field.
Dual Medals for Shooting Stars
This bronze medal holds special significance as it marks a career-defining performance for both athletes, each of whom departs Nagoya having secured a brace of medals.
For Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, this podium finish is the second of the Games. He previously contributed to a bronze medal effort in the men’s skeet team event, where he stood alongside veterans Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill. Naruka’s individual prowess also remained evident throughout the week, as he narrowly missed a podium finish with a fourth-place result in the individual skeet competition.
Parinaaz Dhaliwal’s week has been equally transformative. Just twenty-four hours before her mixed team success, she was instrumental in securing a historic bronze in the women’s skeet team event alongside Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan. That feat marked India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in the women’s team skeet category, a milestone that underscores the rapid rise of women’s shooting talent in the country.
A New Era for Indian Skeet
The success in Aichi-Nagoya represents more than just a collection of medals; it signifies a definitive step forward for the Indian shooting program. When compared to the 2022 Asian Games, where India managed a two-medal haul in skeet—led by Naruka’s individual silver and men’s team bronze—the progress is undeniable.
With three medals secured across the men’s, women’s, and mixed team events, this performance stands as India’s most successful skeet campaign in Asian Games history. The ability to perform consistently across all three disciplines indicates that the depth of the Indian talent pool is growing, moving away from a reliance on individual brilliance toward a more robust team-based culture.
“We came here with the aim of proving that our training and strategy could hold up against the best in Asia,” said a team official following the presentation ceremony. “To walk away with three medals, including the first-ever women’s skeet medal for India, is a testament to the hard work put in by every single athlete.”
As the 2026 Asian Games move into their final stages, the Indian shooting contingent leaves Nagoya having set a new benchmark for excellence. For Naruka and Dhaliwal, the experience of standing on the podium twice in a single week is expected to serve as a vital springboard for their upcoming international campaigns. With the 2026 Games serving as a proving ground, it is clear that India has emerged as a formidable force on the skeet range, ready to challenge the traditional powerhouses of the sport on any stage.
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