Mumbai: The day started with the disappointment of the men’s 10m air pistol shooting team being unable to win a medal at the Asian Games. By now, pistol shooting has had a long and fruitful history for India on the international stage.
An event, however, that has largely stayed under the radar, is the mixed team skeet event as no Indian pairing had ever managed to win an Asiad medal in the discipline.
On Thursday, members from the royal families of Uniara and Patiala teamed up to buck that trend. Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal remained consistent and unfazed to clinch the bronze medal – India’s eighth medal in shooting at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Deep Dive
What significance does the mixed team skeet bronze medal have for India at the Asian Games?
Why did Naruka and Dhaliwal perform well in the mixed team skeet event?
How did India qualify for the final in the mixed team skeet event?
Chinese pair of Jiag Yiting and Lyu Jianlin won the gold with a world record score of 52, followed by South Koreans Jang Kookhee and Lee Jongjun who scored 51. Both teams comfortably went past the previous world record of 47, set by Qatar this January.
Though India had never won a medal in the mixed skeet team event, 28-year-old Naruka and 24-year-old Dhaliwal from Patiala had already gotten a taste of what it was like to stand on an Asian Games podium.
{{/usCountry}}Though India had never won a medal in the mixed skeet team event, 28-year-old Naruka and 24-year-old Dhaliwal from Patiala had already gotten a taste of what it was like to stand on an Asian Games podium.
{{/usCountry}}Naruka, who was introduced to the sport by his father, Dalpat Singh Naruka – a skeet shooter himself – had won a silver medal in the individual skeet event and bronze in the team event at the delayed Asian Games of 2023.
On Wednesday, he had already opened his account in this edition of the Asiad at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery with a bronze in the men’s team event, along with Bhavtegh Singh Gill and veteran Mairaj Ahmer Khan.
Meanwhile Dhaliwal, who began shooting in 2014, was a part of the Indian team that competed at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou. On that occasion though, she just missed out on a spot on the podium after the women’s squad finished fourth in the team event. This time, along with Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan, Dhillon won the bronze in the team competition.
Those medals won just a day earlier gave Dhillon and Naruka the momentum and confidence they needed to compete on Thursday.
Despite trailing in the opening two rounds of the qualification stage, they managed to stay clutch and claw their way into a top four position at the end of the third and final round, scoring 138 to pip Kuwait by one point and make it to the final.
And then in the final, they remained consistent as they comfortably overtook Qatar but fell just short of South Korea and eventual winners China.
On Wednesday, there were tears when they climbed the podium to pick up their medals. On Thursday, having already tasted success, Dhaliwal and Naruka were all smiles as they celebrated with a high-five, shotguns slung over their shoulders, once the medal was confirmed.
No Indians had ever stepped on the podium in the mixed skeet team event before Thursday. Dhaliwal and Naruka, though, knew exactly what they needed to do.