Naruka and Parinaaz secure mixed skeet bronze for India at Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya

India's Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal captured bronze in the mixed team skeet event at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery on Thursday during the 2026 Asian Games, finishing the final with 44 points. The pair reached the medal round as the last qualifiers before securing the podium place.

Naruka and Parinaaz advanced to the final after posting an aggregate qualification score of 138 to finish fourth in qualification and take the eighth and final spot. Their mixed-team bronze raised India's shooting medal total at the Games to eight, comprising four silver and four bronze medals. Both athletes had already contributed to team bronzes earlier in the meet, and the mixed-team result means each leaves Aichi-Nagoya with two medals.

Narrow qualification margins left the Indian duo little room for error, but they produced a composed showing when medals were at stake, maintaining third place in a final described as high-scoring. The final unfolded with several strong performances from the leading pairs, yet Naruka and Parinaaz held onto bronze through the closing stages of the contest.

Anant Jeet Singh Naruka added this mixed-team bronze to an expanding Asian Games résumé: he won silver in the men's individual skeet and bronze in the men's team event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, and his men's team bronze and mixed-team bronze in Aichi-Nagoya take his Asian Games skeet medal collection to four.

Parinaaz's campaign also carried particular significance; her women's team bronze was India's first-ever Asian Games medal, before she partnered with Naruka to secure the mixed-team bronze. India's men's and women's skeet teams had both claimed bronze on Wednesday, and the mixed-team result followed those podium finishes.

The final produced a new world benchmark as China won gold with 52 points, five above the previous world record of 47 set by Qatar in January this year; the Chinese pair missed just four shots in the final. South Korea finished second with 51 points, also bettering the prior record and ending one point shy of China, while India retained third place to take bronze.

For Naruka and Parinaaz, Thursday's mixed-team bronze completed their two-medal campaigns at the Asian Games; for Indian shooting, three medals in skeet at Aichi-Nagoya make this the country's most successful Asian Games showing in the discipline.