CHENNAI: India's skeet shooters had a notable outing as both the men's and women's team returned with a bronze medal each in the ongoing Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday. While it was a second successive bronze for the country in the men's section, it was the first time the women's team had medalled in the Games.
Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan (women's team) returned with a combined tally of 331 in the qualification phase to ensure the medal while Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill garnered a score of 346 in the men's qualification phase to achieve the feat.
On a day when Manu Bhaker, one of the highly-regarded pistol shooters in the country, missed out on a medal, the skeet shooters' double strike was a welcome outcome for the shooting fraternity.
In fact, the skeet shooters even came very close to adding to their tally. Anantjeet, who was the lone Indian man to book a spot the final, narrowly missed out on a podium finish as he finished fourth. Before that agonising miss, Raiza had also suffered a similar fate in the eight-woman final. Parinaaz had also put up a creditable effort to make the final cut before finishing eighth.
A relatively slow start, as compared to the other finalists, had proven to be costly. Both Anantjeet, 2022 edition silver medallist (individual category), and Raiza stayed in contention until the closing stages of their respective finals. However, it was not enough as they were also relying on the other contenders to drop points, which didn't happen.
India foreign coach (skeet) Riccardo Filippelli was encouraged with the spirit that the shooters displayed, not just the finalists but also the ones who had rallied on the fifth and final round of qualification — the qualification phase had started on Monday and ended on Wednesday.
Despite not being in contention for the finals after Day 2 (i.e Tuesday), some of them had kept up the grind to ensure that the team finished on a strong note. "They certainly fought until the end, but we still have to improve... our level in training is very high and then in competition, the performance is not the same. I don't believe in luck, so I'll be the first to change something to help my team perform better," Riccardo told The New Indian Express.
He's pleased with the medals but it's also clear that he wants much more from his wards. "Two medals is a good haul, but we're not satisfied, because we know we must do better. We all need to challenge ourselves again, pull together, and improve! I'm the first one who needs to improve!"
The day's output was not just a worthwhile experience for his wards, but also a learning curve for him as he aims to lift the skeet discipline, which is not considered to be as strong as rifle and pistol in Indian shooting. He has made mental notes on things that he wants to work on in the near future. "It's about changing training methodology, shooting less and shooting more with quality. More rest for the shooters, and then trying to arrive in top shape for the competition."
The skeet shooters have improved a great deal over the years. And they'll be hoping to keep up that trend in the days to come.