Aichi-Nagoya, 23 September (H.S.): Indian shooters Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill won the bronze medal in the men’s skeet team event at the Asian Games on Wednesday.

India finished third with a combined score of 346 points. Tied with Kazakhstan on the same score, the Indian trio prevailed in the shoot-off to secure the bronze medal.

Anantjeet Singh Naruka also advanced to the final of the men’s individual skeet event after an impressive performance in qualification. He will now compete for a medal in the final, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. IST.

It was a highly productive day for India in shooting, with the women’s skeet team also securing a bronze medal. Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan finished third with a combined score of 331 points. China won gold, while Kazakhstan claimed silver.

Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker also reached the final of the women’s 10m air pistol individual event but finished fifth with a score of 181.1. Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh failed to advance to the final after the qualification round.

In soft tennis, Jay Meena defeated the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in a thrilling men’s singles quarter-final to advance to the semi-finals. His place in the last four assured India of its first Asian Games medal in soft tennis, with all four semi-finalists guaranteed a podium finish.

In rowing, Balraj Panwar qualified for the men’s single sculls final after finishing third in his heat. Satnam Singh and Salman Khan finished second in their men’s double sculls heat to advance to the final.

In canoe sprint, India’s men’s kayak four team of Harsvardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L. Naoucha Singh Oinam and Arun Singh finished third in the first heat of the 500m event to qualify for the final. Megha Pradeep advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s canoe single 200m event, while Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi progressed to the semi-finals of the women’s kayak double 500m.

In the women’s four rowing event, India’s Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Devi Haobijam and Poonam finished sixth overall in the heats and qualified for Final A. In the men’s pair, Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar finished fourth and will compete in Final B.

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 advance from the men’s 200m freestyle heats, finishing 19th and 17th, respectively.

India also recorded victories in mixed doubles in table tennis. Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated the Maldives’ Mohamed Ismail and Fathimath Ali, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale overcame Sri Lanka’s Chanul Kulappuwawadu and Bimandee Swarna.

In sepak takraw, India defeated the Philippines 2-1 in the men’s team regu Group B match but failed to qualify for the next stage.

India’s campaign at the Asian Games continued to make progress across several disciplines on Wednesday, with the country adding medals and securing places in a number of upcoming medal rounds.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar