The Indian men’s skeet team of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill won the bronze medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday, while Naruka also qualified for the individual final.
The Indian trio finished third in the team event with a score of 346 points. India were tied with Kazakhstan but secured the bronze after prevailing in the shoot-off.
Naruka also advanced to the men’s skeet individual final following a strong qualification performance. The final is scheduled for 12:30 PM IST.
The medal was India’s second bronze in shooting on Wednesday after the women’s skeet team of Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan also finished third. The Indian women’s team scored 331 points, behind gold medallists China and silver winners Kazakhstan.
Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker also reached the women’s 10m air pistol individual final but finished fifth. Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh failed to qualify for the medal round.
In soft tennis, Jay Meena assured India of its first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport after defeating the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in the men’s singles quarterfinal. All four semifinalists are guaranteed medals.
India’s women’s kabaddi team registered its second consecutive victory, defeating Iran 37-23 in their Group A match. The Indian team had opened its campaign with a win over Bangladesh.
In rowing, Balraj Panwar qualified for the men’s single sculls final after finishing third in his heat, while Satnam Singh and Salman Khan advanced to the men’s double sculls final after finishing second in their heat.
Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Haobijam and Poonam finished sixth overall in the women’s four heats and qualified for Final A. Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar finished fourth in the men’s pair heats and will compete in Final B.
India also made progress in canoe sprint. The men’s kayak four 500m team of Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam and Arun Singh reached the final after finishing third in Heat 1. Megha Pradeep advanced to the women’s canoe single 200m semifinal, while Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi qualified for the women’s kayak double 500m semifinal.
In swimming, Benedicton Beniston finished 13th overall in the men’s 100m butterfly heats, while Sajan Prakash did not start the event. Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to qualify for the men’s 200m freestyle final after finishing 19th and 17th, respectively.
Indian paddlers Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Maldives’ Mohamed Ismail and Fathimath Ali in mixed doubles, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale beat Sri Lanka’s Chanul Kulappuwawadu and Bimandee Swarna.
In sepaktakraw, India defeated the Philippines 2-1 in the men’s team regu Group B match but failed to qualify for the next stage.
India continued to compete across several disciplines as the Asian Games progressed in Aichi-Nagoya.
(ANI Inputs)
