Indian shooters secure bronze in mixed team skeet finals
Shooters Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwaal secured a bronze medal for India in the mixed team skeet finals on Thursday at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Scoring 44 across six series, the Indian pair finished on the podium behind China and South Korea. Chinese athletes established a new world record with 52 points to claim gold, breaking Qatar’s previous high mark of 47 set earlier in January 2026. South Korean shooters took home silver with 51 points, while former record-holders Qatar fell to fourth place with 18 points.
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Securing this podium spot brings India’s overall medal count at these games to 15, consisting of one gold, six silver, and eight bronze medals. Shooting events have contributed significantly to this total, accounting for eight medals split evenly between silver and bronze. Both Anantjeet and Parinaaz previously won bronze medals in their respective men’s and women’s team events on Wednesday, proving their consistency on the continental stage. India continues to develop its sporting infrastructure to compete fiercely at these multi-sport events, slowly closing the gap with regional powerhouses like China and Japan.
Adding to the day’s successes, wushu athlete Roshibina Devi claimed a silver medal after competing against China’s Zhang Xiaoyu in the women’s sanda 60 kg final. She lost the match with a 0-2 scoreline. Her achievement makes her the first Indian woman to win three consecutive Asian Games medals in wushu, following a bronze in 2018 and a silver in 2022. Earlier in the tournament, she defeated the 2023 world champion from Vietnam, showcasing excellent form throughout the competition.
Rowers Satnam Singh and Salman Khan also added a bronze to the tally in the men’s double sculls final. Clocking a time of 6:13.25, they finished just seconds behind the Chinese and Uzbekistani boats. Despite maintaining second place for most of the race, they dropped a spot during the final stretch.
Missed opportunities in pistol and singles sculls
Some Indian athletes narrowly missed the podium on Thursday. Men’s 10m air pistol shooters Kamaljeet, Aakash Bhardwaj, and Kedarling Balakrishna finished fourth in the team event with a score of 1727-53x, trailing closely behind China, Indonesia, and Japan. Similarly, rower Balraj Panwar maintained second place during the initial stages of the men’s singles sculls final but eventually finished fourth after being overtaken by competitors from Uzbekistan and Japan in the final 500 meters.