Pink vapor evaporating in the muggy air. The massive Fu-chun range in the background resonates with the bang of the shotgun. There was a little applause from the audience. And a secret fist-pump from the shooter who dared to oppose shooting royalty’s domination in the most regal of shooting competitions.
Since 2010, Abdullah Al Rashidi has captured every skeet gold medal at the Asian Games. Even before his nearest rival in Wednesday’s Asian Games final was even born, he had already won three World Championships. and has three times placed third in the Olympic competition.
Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, however, doesn’t give much thought to his reputation. Few people have ever been able to match the Kuwaiti legend shot for shot for 42 shots while not missing a single clay target, placing Al Rashidi under extreme pressure. The man had survived the entire day on just a banana and a protein bar.
The Indian erred on the 43rd shot, and what initially appeared to be a gold finally turned out to be a silver. However, during the raucous celebrations that ensued in the Kuwaiti camp following the victory, Al Rashidi, 60, found Naruka, 35 years his junior, and gave him a bear embrace.
It would be a dream to face him head-to-head. After being the first Indian to win a skeet medal at the Asian Games, Naruka said, “These are the kinds of days that remind you why you picked up the gun.
The young man from Rajasthan qualified in fourth place with a score of 121, qualifying him for the six-shooter final. There, Naruka barely missed two strokes to guarantee India a silver medal.
When he was younger, Naruka frequently accompanied his father Dalpat Singh Naruka to shooting tournaments in adjacent villages in the Tonk district’s Uniara, an ex-royal residence. The introduction to the huge bore gun came quickly because Rajendra Singh, his grandfather, enjoyed shooting.
“My father frequently took me to shooting competitions across the state and also showed me the family’s firearms at home. When I was old enough, I began practicing with my grandfather’s semi-automatic big bore rifle at the backyard range.
I’ve always wanted to accomplish something that would make my family proud of me. It’s a huge accomplishment for India to take home the first medal in skeet, adds Naruka.
Because Uniara lacked a shooting range, the young Naruka would go with his father to practice at the Oases Shooting Range in Jaipur. The father-son team frequently traveled over 130 km each day, or the son stayed in the state capital for training.
When she was 15 years old, Naruka participated in the Nationals. In 2014, she placed 38th at the Junior World Championships in Grenada. He took home a silver medal at the Junior Asian Championships in Al Ain that same year. Later, in 2015, he took home a bronze medal at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, and moved on to compete in senior international competitions.
In order to solidify his position on the senior skeet team, Naruka also trained in Italy with instructors Pietro Genga and Ennio Falco, an experience he believes improved his shooting.
“Both are seasoned skeet shooters, with Falco winning the Olympic title in 1996. We spent a lot of time studying shooters like 2016 Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti at the ranges in Capua and Taranto, southern Italy, and we would also write down our findings, but both the teachers advised us to build our own shooting style,” he recalls.
