Anantjeet Singh Naruka of India won his first individual gold medal at the Asian Championships by beating Mansour Al Rashidi of Kuwait in a thrilling men’s skeet final. Al Rashidi was the former Asian Games winner. The 27-year-old Indian won with a score of 57-56, while Al-Ishaq Ali Ahmed from Qatar took home the bronze.
Naruka, who won a silver medal at the Asian Games, showed that he could do it consistently throughout the competition. He came in second place with a score of 119 after five rounds, just one point behind Abdulaziz Alsaad of Kuwait, who was in first place. This is his fifth medal overall at the continental competition. He won gold in the team and mixed team events in 2023.
India’s mixed team does well
There was more positive news for Indian shooting after that. Saurabh Chaudhary and up-and-coming adolescent prodigy Suruchi Inder Singh made a strong squad and earned a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. They won easily, beating Liu Heng-Yu and Hsieh Hsiang-Chen of Chinese Taipei 17-9.
The Indian pair made it to the medal round in fifth position, with Suruchi earning 292 and Saurabh getting 286, for a total of 578. Suruchi’s amazing effort was the key to their win in the bronze medal match. Her steady “10s,” which included six scores of 10.4 or better, helped her team get to the victory score of 16 points before their opponents.
Iran beat Vietnam 16-8 in a separate bronze medal match, and China beat South Korea 16-12 to win the gold medal.
Junior Shooters Are Also Great
The success also spread to the junior level. The Indian team of Vanshika Chaudhary and Gavin Anthony won the gold medal in the junior 10m air pistol mixed team event. They won a tough match against the Korean pair of Kim Yejin and Kim Dooyeon, with a score of 16 to 14. With a score of 578, the Indian duo came in second place and made it to the finals.