Shymkent: Indian shooter Anant Jeet Singh Naruka fired his way to his first individual gold medal in the Asian Championships after edging out Kuwait’s Mansour Al Rashidi in the men’s skeet final here on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Indian pair of Saurabh Chaudhary and rising teenager Suruchi Inder Singh clinched the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze, beating Chinese Taipei.
Naruka finished on top of the podium after prevailing over former Asian Games champion Al Rashidi 57-56 in the final. Al-Ishaq Ali Ahmed of Qatar settled for the bronze medal with a 43.
The 27-year-old Naruka, who has won the team gold and mixed team gold in the 2023 editio, qualified for the final in second position with a 119 after five rounds, while Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Alsaad led the pack with 120 on their way to the final. Al Rashidi was third in the qualification with a 119.
For Naruka, an Asian Games silver medallist, this was his fifth medal overall in the continental tournament.
Earlier, the duo of Saurabh and Suruchi defeated Liu Heng-Yu and Hsieh Hsiang-Chen 17-9 to add to the individual bronze that double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker had won in the women’s 10m air pistol competition on Tuesday.
The Indian pair qualified for the medal round in fifth place with Suruchi firing a 292 and Saurabh scoring a 286.