Nagoya: Skeet shooting came to India’s rescue at the Asian Games shooting range on Wednesday, producing two bronze medals on a day when consistency had eluded the country’s pistol markswomen.
The Indian men’s and women’s skeet teams both climbed onto the podium, lifting some of the gloom around a shooting campaign that has promised much but has been patchy since the opening day.
There was also plenty of individual drama, with Anantjeet Singh Naruka in the men’s event and Raiza Dhillon in the women’s event coming tantalisingly close to medals before finishing fourth.
For the women, the team bronze was particularly significant. Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza and Maheshwari Chauhan combined for 331 out of 375 to win India’s first-ever skeet medal at the Asian Games.
China dominated the team competition with 357, a Games record, while Kazakhstan finished on 336 to win silver.
The Indian trio had little room for error after three days of qualification, with each shooter completing five series of 25 shots. Parinaaz and Raiza both finished on 111, while Maheshwari contributed 109 to take India’s aggregate to 331.
Raiza and Parinaaz then carried India’s individual hopes into the eight-shooter final.
Raiza, the more experienced of the two and an Olympian, remained in medal contention deep into the final but faltered at the crucial stage, finishing fourth with 23. Parinaaz was unable to reproduce her qualification form and was the first shooter eliminated, eventually finishing eighth.
China’s Jiang Yiting took gold after producing a superb final to equal the world record with 35.
If the women created history, the Indian men ensured the day ended with another bronze.
Naruka, veteran Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill combined for 346 to finish third. Qatar took gold with 353, while Kuwait claimed silver with 348.
For Naruka, however, the team medal offered only partial consolation after another agonising near-miss in the individual event.
The 28-year-old Olympian had looked every inch a medal contender during the opening two days. He shot with remarkable consistency on Monday and Tuesday, posting 96 out of 100 to sit joint top of the qualification standings alongside three others.
The final qualification round was less assured. Naruka slipped to 23 out of 25, but his aggregate of 119 was still enough to send him into the eight-man final and keep his individual medal hopes alive.
He was composed again when it mattered, but the quality of the competition left him with little margin for error.
Qatar’s Rashid Saleh Al-Athba, one of Asia’s most accomplished skeet shooters with multiple World Cup medals and Asian championship success, produced a class act to win gold with an Asian record of 34. China’s Lyu Jianlin took silver with 33, while Chinese Taipei’s Lee Meng-Yuan claimed bronze with 29.
Naruka finished fourth. It was a familiar and particularly frustrating position for the Indian, who had also missed out on a medal at the Paris Olympics after finishing fourth alongside Maheshwari in the mixed team skeet event.
