India's Men's Skeet Team Wins Bronze at Asian Games After Winning a Shoot-Off

India's men's skeet shooting team claimed bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday, edging out Kazakhstan in a tense shoot-off after the two teams finished tied on points in the team event, adding another shooting medal to a Games that has already produced a steady stream of podium finishes for the Indian contingent.

A Medal Decided in Extra Shots

The trio of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill combined for a total of 346 points across the team competition, a score that left them deadlocked with Kazakhstan for third place once regulation targets had been completed. Rather than sharing the bronze, the format required a shoot-off to separate the two sides, and the Indian trio held their nerve under pressure to secure the medal outright, a scenario that tends to reward composure as much as raw scoring ability given the sudden-death nature of the format.

Skeet shooting, which involves hitting clay targets launched from two elevated houses at varying angles and speeds, has increasingly become a reliable medal source for India at multi-sport Games, building on a shooting programme that has been a consistent contributor to the country's overall medal tally across recent editions of both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

Naruka's Day Far From Over

For Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Wednesday's bronze was only the first part of a potentially bigger day. Naruka also qualified for the men's individual skeet final, scheduled to begin at 12:30 pm IST, giving India a live shot at an additional medal in the discipline on the same day. A strong individual performance would mark a rare double for an Indian shooter at a single Asian Games, team bronze followed by an individual podium finish, and will be closely watched by the chef de mission's team as the day's schedule unfolds.

Part of a Broader Day 4 Push

The skeet bronze arrived on a Day 4 packed with Indian medal contention across disciplines. Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Mirabai Chanu were both in action earlier in the day, in the women's 10m air pistol and women's 49kg weightlifting respectively, while India's women's kabaddi team continued its unbeaten run with a 37-23 win over Iran, and Jay Meena advanced to the soft tennis semi-finals, assuring India of a maiden Asian Games medal in that sport.

Taken together, the results reflect a Games in which India's shooting contingent, one of the country's most consistently medal-productive units at major multi-sport events, has continued to deliver even as marquee names in other disciplines have had a more mixed run through the tournament's opening days. With more shooting events still to come at Aichi-Nagoya, the federation will be hoping Wednesday's bronze is a sign of further podiums before the Games close.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.