Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 25 (ANI): National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo on Friday hailed India's shooting contingent after Suruchi Inder Singh and Kamaljeet clinched gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Asian Games, saying the sport has a "very bright future" in the country.
The duo scored 484.6 points to defeat South Korea (478.0) and Iran (415.8), while also breaking the Asian record of 481.3 set by Uzbekistan earlier this year.
India's medal tally now stands at 19 — two golds, eight silvers and nine bronze medals. Suruchi and Kamaljeet led from the opening series and maintained their advantage despite a late challenge from South Korea, eventually winning by 6.6 points. Their final score was just four points short of the world record. Earlier, the Indian women's cricket team had won India's first gold medal after defeating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final.
Speaking to ANI after the gold medal-winning performance, Singh Deo said the medal had created an atmosphere of joy and marked India's first gold in shooting at the ongoing Games.
"It's an atmosphere of joy. This is the first gold medal for India's shooting team. India's performance in shooting has been very good. Today marks 10 medals from shooting alone, and we hope that out of the remaining 50% of the games—whether it's 25m, 50m, or trap—there is a possibility of winning medals," Singh Deo told ANI.
He said the NRAI's continued efforts are focused on supporting shooters and providing them with the right platform to maximise their talent and perform at the international level.
"Our ongoing effort is to always support our shooters, provide them with a platform where they can fully optimize their talent and capacity, and perform well in the international arena. I believe India has a very bright future in shooting, and I want to thank the government, because the government always provides us with good support—the Ministry, the Sports Ministry—and our high-performance and coaching staff do a great job. Since the beginning, shooters have been winning medals, but over the last couple of days, there was a slight sense of disappointment," he said.
Reflecting on India's mixed results in the men's and women's 10m pistol events, Singh Deo said the disappointment was visible, but the mixed team gold showed the resilience of the shooters.
"See, the disappointment was slightly in the 10m pistol for men and women, because our team is capable of winning gold medals. The disappointment was visible to people, and you can see the proof of that today in the medals—the same mixed team of men and women shot today, and they broke the Asian record, broke the record of the Asian Games, winning by six points, which is a very big margin in air pistol. So, but this is a part of sports," he said.
Singh Deo stressed that the shooting campaign was far from over, with several events still remaining.
"Sometimes there is a good day, sometimes a bad one. I think we need to keep an eye on the fact that out of all of India's medals, 10 medals have come from shooting. Even though this is the first gold in shooting and India's second gold overall, and in the future, the remaining 50% of the shooting events still have medals to come—today, we won silver in the 50m rifle, and we have two finalists from whom we have expectations—so quite a bit of shooting is still left. Let's hope for the best," the NRAI president told ANI. (ANI)
"Atmosphere of joy": NRAI chief Kalikesh Singh Deo after shooting's first Asian Games 2026 gold
