India maintained their excellent show in the shooting event at the Asian Games, claiming their 8th medal out of a total overall tally of 15, when reports last came in. That’s more than 50 percent of their medal tally. Additionally, India have now won at least one medal in each of the 5 days of the shooting events thus far.
India is competing in the current Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, with nearly 500 participants. Hence, understandably, the expectations of medals are automatically higher, targeting an improvement on their 2023 showing. And in those, sports like cricket, kabaddi, shooting, archery, badminton, and weightlifting are the main areas.
When there are expectations, pressure comes along uninvited. And the preparations going into the event come flooding in mind. But the Indians would be fairly satisfied with their efforts over the first 5 days.
Of course, gold is the ultimate aim, but winning any medal for the country is no short of any honour. And to do so on every day of the event adds further glory. Thursday saw the likes of Kamaljeet, Aakash Bharadwaj, Kedarling Uchaganve, Anantjeet Singh Naruka, and Parinaaz Dhaliwal participating.
Anantjeet and Parinaaz had a kind of mixed outing. They were in a supreme position till the final round but, in the tiebreaker, came third after tying with South Korea. So, it was a case of so near yet so far, but still, a medal is a medal.
Anantjeet featured again, this time with Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtej Singh Gill, in the Men’s Skeet Team event. Here too, the bronze medal was earned.
And finally, Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz and Maheshwari Chauhan ended the day with another bronze medal in the Women’s Skeet Team event.
Kamaljeet started well, with a perfect score after five shots in the second series, and registering another 100 in the third, holding onto the top spot for quite a long time. However, he could not quite sustain his form, fizzling out.
Anantjeet and Parinaaz became the first Indian pair to reach the final, squeezing past Kuwait in the skeet mixed team event. And eventually, through a good show and some mistakes by Qatar, there was a three-way tie between India, Korea and China. However, it was bronze to be for the Indians.
Now, here is where consistency matters. India landed a clear rotation in their final strike, tying with Korea. However, because India finished lower than Korea in the qualification round, the Koreans were awarded the silver medal! Ouch!
In sport, you get a lot of instances of viewing the glass as half empty or half full. India have won 8 medals in shooting thus far – 4 silver and 4 bronze. But with a bit more consistency and some luck, these could easily have been close to 3-4 gold medals. Additionally, there were a few heartbreaking 4th-place finishes as well, which, if they hadn’t been, could have resulted in more medals.
Please feel free to comment with your opinions on India’s showing thus far at the Asian Games. There can be criticism, and there will be praise as well. But at the end of the day, the joy of winning a medal for the country is probably worth celebrating more than the sorrow of missing out on another or higher medal.
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