Until Wednesday, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka was a lesser-known commodity in Indian shooting. Unlike his celebrated juniors, he did not have a résumé glittering with medals from the Junior World Cups or national events. On Wednesday, though, none of that mattered.
The 25-year-old from Jaipur, in Rajasthan, produced the final of his life as he shot a staggering 58 targets, out of 60, to win silver in the men's skeet final. It was Anant's second medal of the day: he combined with Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Gurjoat Khangura to win the team bronze medal in the men's skeet event earlier in the day. Talk about a super Wednesday, eh?
His silver was one of the country's best achievements at the Games:
This is India's first-ever silver medal in the men's skeet at the Asian Games
It's also India's best-ever finish finish in men's skeet at the Asian Games
The silver is also Anant's career's biggest medal
And who finished above him? Only a three-time world champion and two-time Olympic bronze medallist: Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Rashidi. It took a world record from Al-Rashidi to beat Anant to the gold. That's just how good the Indian was.
Al Rashidi, aged 60, was flawless on the day, shooting a perfect score of 60/60 to take top honours and equal Angad Vir Singh Bajwa's world record set in 2019. Fun fact: Al Rashidi won his last World title in 1998, which was the year Anant was born. This is Al Rashidi's third Asian Games gold medal: he won the top prize in skeet in 2010 [as a neutral athlete] and in 2014.
Anant, 25, gave an incredible account of himself in the final as he found the target in each of his first 43 shots. Shot #44 saw him miss the target for the first time, around 40 minutes after the shooting had begun.
He was chased down by Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiya and Anant was in a spot of bother he missed #46, but held his own to push Al-Attiya down to the bronze. With a virtual shoot-off against Al Rashidi, Anant was on target in each of his last 14 shots but so was Al Rashidi, whose consistency was rewarded with the gold medal.
For a shooter who really has not made a mark in a sport that India has tasted plenty of success in recent years, Anant sure made people wake up and take notice of his craft.
There really isn't a lot in Anant's list of achievements: a silver in the men's skeet junior at the 2014 Asian Championships and a bronze at the 2015 ISSF Junior Cup. Nothing to really show at the senior level, sans the one big win he claimed in 2015: all of 17, he stunned his veteran compatriots Mann Singh and Mairaj Khan to the gold at the nationals. He followed it up with a silver in the junior category that evening.
In the nine years that have followed, his best result in an individual event was when he finished 23rd at the 2023 Cairo World Cup. He's ranked #54 in the world in skeet. But again, none of that mattered on Wednesday.
He showed a world champion what he was capable of. He showed all of India what he was capable of. He proved to himself that he was capable and beyond.