Two bronzes amid the gloom: Indian shooters sign off from Asian Games

Nagoya: The grey cloud cover and steady drizzle at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery on Wednesday seemed symbolic of the Indian shooters’ almost damp outing.With six medals up for grabs, India returned with two bronze.Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal TallyMuch was expected of the proven women’s air pistol trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Inder Singh. Instead, they finished fourth, nowhere near the silver India won in the event at the 2023 Asian Games.Amid the gloom, however, another group of Indian women shooters added some colour, winning a landmark bronze in the women’s skeet team event.Maheshwari Chauhan, Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal combined for 331 points to finish behind China (357) and Kazakhstan (336), earning India its first medal in the women’s skeet team event.Maheshwari, however, was left wanting more.“I’m a little disappointed about it not being a better colour, but it’s better to have finished on the podium,” said the Olympian.Raiza narrowly missed out on an individual medal, finishing fourth.The men’s skeet team also signed off with bronze. Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who finished fourth in the individual event, veteran Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill combined for 346 points. Qatar (352) took gold and Kuwait (348) silver.For Gill, the medal offered relief after a slow start to the competition.“Going home without a medal would have been a little disappointing. So I’m glad we pulled ourselves together on the last day and were able to get the score which we needed,” said the 23-year-old.“It was a tie in the end, but luckily our last one was better than Kazakhstan’s, so we were able to edge them out,” he added.In the much-vaunted 10m pistol, India and Vietnam finished level on 1719 points, but the Vietnamese climbed onto the podium on the inner-10 count. They had 46 shots closest to the centre, compared to India’s 44.India’s 1719-44x was spearheaded by Manu’s 579-20x, which had earned her third place in qualification for the individual final.Esha, the silver medallist from the previous edition, finished 15th with 572-12x, while Suruchi was further down the order with 568-12x (26th place).Manu, who had qualified third, could not raise her game in the individual final either, finishing fifth.Stay updated with the latest Asian Games 2026 news, check the Asian Games medal tally and complete Asian Games schedule.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.