Indian pistol shooters shatter current records to claim gold.
Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh captured India's first shooting gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games following a spectacular performance in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. They secured their victory on Friday by setting a fresh Asian Games record. This triumph marks India's second overall gold at the ongoing continental event, succeeding the earlier win by the women's cricket squad.
Strategic Roster Shift
National Rifle Association of India officials made a strategic lineup change just before the competition. They replaced Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve with Kamaljeet as Suruchi's partner. Kedarling had finished 35th with 568 points in Thursday's qualification round. Kamaljeet, conversely, performed exceptionally well by scoring 580 points and missing the individual men's final by only one point.
India holds a strong traditional legacy in global pistol shooting, though the current squad faced early medal droughts during this year's individual disciplines in Japan. Star athletes previously missed the podium in their respective finals.
This newly formed pairing quickly reversed the negative trend. Kamaljeet and Suruchi dominated the qualification stage with 587 points, securing 29 inner 10s across three series rounds of 196, 195, and 196. During the final medal round, the Indian shooters registered an impressive total of 484.6 points.
South Korea's Suhyeon Hong and Gaeun Choo earned silver with 478.0 points, finishing a notable 6.6 points behind the Indian leaders. Iran took home the bronze medal after scoring 415.8 points. The winning margin stands out significantly in a precision sport usually decided by tiny fractions. Furthermore, the Indian duo missed tying the current world record by merely 3.8 points, confirming their absolute dominance on the range.
Image Courtesy: File Photo ANI
