The Indian skeet team, comprising Asian Games 2023 silver medalist Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, Gurjoat Khangura, and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, clinched gold with their combined total of 358 at the Asian Shooting Championships in Korea. The hosts settled for silver with 357 while Kazakhstan claimed bronze with a total of 355.
With this India’s tally in the championship currently includes one gold, one silver and one bronze.
However, all three Indian shooters drew blank in individual events. Naruka missed out on a medal and an Olympic quota after finishing fourth in the final. The Indian was eliminated after scoring 33 of 40 shots in the six-man final.
Qatar’s Rashid Saleh Al-Athba went on to win the gold medal after scoring 53/60 and was followed by South Korea’s Minshu Kim, who shot 51/60. Chinese Taipei’s Meng Yuan Lee won bronze with a score of 42/50.
Gurjoat Khangura also made it to the men’s skeet final but was first to crash out after missing five of the first 20 shots. He was third in the qualifying round after shooting 121 from five rounds.
Naruka finished seventh in the qualifying round with a score of 119 but made it to the six-man final as South Korea’s Jongjun Lee, who finished fourth, competed for ranking points only (RPO). Angad Vir Singh Bajwa was ninth with 118 while Vikram Karn Singh competed under RPO to score 107 and finish 40th.
Ganemat Sekhon was the best-placed Indian in the women’s skeet at 15th, scoring 108. She was followed by Kartiki Singh and Parinaaz Dhaliwal on the 17th and 18th, respectively. Darshna Rathore was 19th after shooting 106 in the field consisting of 28 shooters.
The Asian Championships is a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics. A total of 24 Olympic quotas are on offer with the top two finishers (one per country) in each of the 12 Olympic shooting events securing a spot for their national teams.
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