A shaky start left Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal staring at an early exit, but the Indian skeet pair refused to buckle, pushing each other through the pressure to fight until the last target and secure a historic bronze in the mixed team event at the Asian Games here on Thursday. The medal was India's first-ever in the Asian Games skeet mixed team event and capped a remarkable fightback after Naruka and Dhaliwal managed just 44/50 in the opening round of qualification.

"We had a difficult start. Both of us didn't shoot well in the first round and then we just told each other that we can still get it. We have two more rounds to go and we will fight till the last target," Naruka said. The Indians responded exactly as they had promised. They steadied themselves in the second round, hitting 47 targets, and matched that score in the third to finish qualification on 138 and book their place in the four-team final. Dhaliwal said the message between them never changed: keep fighting and worry about the result only after the last target.