 "Anantjeet Singh interview: Indian shooter says success breeds success, eyes big Olympic breakthrough")
Of the 41 medals that India have won at the Olympic Games, a whopping seven have come in shooting, second only to hockey (13). The first individual Olympic gold for India was won in the same sport when the national anthem rang around the Beijing Shooting Range Hall in 2008 after rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra’s historic act.
Interestingly, all the shooting medals at the summer Games have been won by either pistol or rifle shooters. While Manu Bhaker, Bindra and Gangan Narang have gone on to become household names in India, shotgun shooting is yet to claim its spot in the limelight.
This could have changed forever at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux last year during the Paris Olympics, when the Indian duo of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka came within touching distance of a historic bronze, only to lose 43-44 to China in the medal match.
Going back to the fateful day, the 27-year-old Anantjeet, who hails from Jaipur, remembers very little of the frantic final, but the ‘heartbreak’ is still etched in his memory. Another takeaway for the skeet shooter was the experience of handling pressure in big events. It was put to good use soon after as he captured his first ISSF World Cup Final medal ( bronze) last year, and recently clinched his first individual gold medal at the Asian Shooting Championships 2025.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka’s men’s skeet 🥇 at the Asian Championship Shymkent 2025, was the first by an Indian after Angad Bajwa @angadvirbajwa won it back to back in 2018 & 2019. #AsianChampionship #IndiaShooting #TeamIndia #Skeet #Shooting #ShootingStar #India pic.twitter.com/4au98Aqcam
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) August 21, 2025
Impact Shorts
More ShortsFor TOPS athlete Anantjeet, whose first junior-level medal boosted his confidence and pushed his shooting career upward, the recent gold medal win brings similar hope as he now takes aim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
We caught up with the talented Indian shooter, a silver medallist at the 2023 Asian Games, who reflected on winning the men’s skeet gold in the Asian Championships, the Paris Olympics heartbreak, learning from the biggest stage in the sport, and how one can become a skeet shooter.
Anantjeet also spoke on controlling his mind during a tense final, the pillar of support that his family has been, and shared advice for state governments on uncovering more sporting talents at a younger level.
Excerpts…
You have won the bronze at the ISSF World Cup Final and Asian Games silver. I just wanted to pick your brains on where you rank this recent gold medal (at Asian Shooting Championships) as compared to the earlier wins. Especially if you look at it as someone from the Indian skeet shooting fraternity.
Anantjeet: This is my first individual gold medal as a senior. It’s come at a crucial time in my life because now, I think the next four years (are) gonna be very important and I can take something back from this. How, in a different condition, in a difficult condition, I was able to perform and win. The goal was to win the competition. It was a great experience for me. I can’t rank it above my Asian Games medal because in the Asian Games, the pressure was different. The level of competition is different. The Asian Games is a bigger competition, but becoming an Asian champion, not equally, but just a little below the Asian Games.
Okay, so why I asked you that question is because I was reading one of the interviews of the Indian team coach Riccardo Filippelli, and he said that this should become the starting point for skeet shooting in India. Obviously, a big cycle is coming, and we are all looking at the 2028 Olympics. So, on that aspect, what kind of push can it provide? Because skeet shooting sometimes goes missing in India behind rifle and pistol events.
Anantjeet: I think just not skeet, I believe shotgun also. Usually, there are fewer conversations about us because maybe we were not able to get as many medals as the rifle and pistol shooters have been doing.
But I think now, slowly, after the Asian Games, we have been winning a lot of medals, we have been performing well. I think it’s good for any other shooter who wants to come into this sport and is choosing a shotgun event in his or her career, at least they have someone. They have some motivation that, look, they were able to do it, we can also do it, and we can do it better than them. So that’s what keeps me motivated, that, okay, I have to perform well. To get the gold medal for the first time.
Shooting, World Cup Finals: Anantjeet Singh Naruka punches the air in delight as he bags a bronze in front of his home crowd.. Anant wins bronze in men's skeet with 43/50 hits in the final.. pic.twitter.com/lPSv4RvCo8
— Vishank Razdan (@VishankRazdan) October 17, 2024
I just wanted to get onto the fact that obviously, when you are playing as a team, there is always somebody you can rely on if you have a bad day. Here you are competing as an individual. Give us an idea of the thought process that goes through your mind. In the end, I think there was a difference of just one point with the silver medal winner. Can you just give me an idea of whether you look at the score or not. And if you do, how do you keep yourself calm? Because nerves are something, right?
Anantjeet: I think for half of the final, we were equal, and we were shooting well. In the Asian Games, I think I shot really well till 40 targets, and then I missed one target and I lost the gold. This time, I was like, no, I have to keep shooting. We’ll see the result in the end because you know when you are shooting well, and you have dropped one target, you can’t let it affect you, because if you start calculating in your head, you are basically lost.
No need to calculate how many targets I have lost or the other person has lost. Even in the end, when there were six targets, we were equal, and I was like, okay, I have to get these six targets, and then we’ll see if the scores are tied or if the other guy misses. And I think in the next two targets, he missed one. And after that, I had to hit all four targets in the end. And I told myself that, okay, we can do this, and just focus on shooting the target. And the last two shots, after I shot, I told myself, okay, this is something big, which we have done, because this is a great experience for me to take it to take forward.
So I got to know the process that you went through during the final, but off the field, is there anything that you do? So obviously, sports puts so much more emphasis on the mental aspect now. So, just a bit on, when you’re not doing shotgun skeet shooting, what is your off-field mental regime like?
Anantjeet: I think what has helped me a lot is the breathing. You can always just calm yourself down. If you start focussing on your breathing, then your heart rate is gonna lower down. And I believe if you want a good mental state, you need to be physically fit. I believe that if you are physically fit, you’ll be able to control your heart better, and your body is just gonna work better, and the brain functioning will be better. So that’s gonna help any individual in any sport.
Alright, I just want to go back to last year and the heartbreak at the Paris Olympics. If you are open to talking about that. Because we’re talking about this whole mental adjustment. Can you explain how difficult it was to experience it there in real time and also to recover from that?
Anantjeet: I think when we were shooting the final, everything happened so quickly. If you talk to me about it, I don’t remember any bit of it, or just that last shot I remember. But before that, there was a lot of pressure, and we knew that we were shooting in a big final for the Indian team.
Just after we lost it, it was heartbreaking. Yeah, I mean, it was so close, so close to winning a medal for the team. I think in one’s life, you will get these very few opportunities, which you need to grab. When you know that you have lost a big medal, it’s not easy for you to recover from it. But (it’s) good we reached that level, and it’s a good motivation for me to win a better medal in the next Olympic Games. Taking the experience from the last Olympic Games and handling the pressure better than before.
I want to come to your shooting, especially skeet shooting. I wanted to know that for a shooter in this division, how is it different from pistol and air rifle shooters? If you have to explain it to a layman. I know obviously the equipment are different, but I’m talking about how the approach, how the approach changes?
Anantjeet: I think the approach needs to be the same for any sport you play. You need to have that winning mentality everywhere. If I am doing this, I’m gonna give my best, and no one else can beat me on that day because it’s all about the hard work you are doing.
You are all the hard work that you’ve put in. You just have to perform in those moments, or maybe like 30 minutes or one hour. I think it’s all about that. It’s not that different. I mean, I’ve had a lot of conversations with the rifle and pistol shooters also, just to get to know what they feel about competing and everything. And I think we all have the same thought. It is just that we have also started being more professional. Now the shooting team has started being more professional towards the sport, and I think discipline has helped me as well.
And the approach has definitely changed, I think, after winning a medal. I believe that in a person’s life, if you win a medal, it is an opening. I got this feeling after winning a medal that I wanted more. And that changed because even in juniors, when I started shooting, for two years, I don’t think I got a medal.
I was very close to a medal, but I didn’t get it. But in 2015, I got my first medal, the first junior gold medal, and then I just started winning in the rest of the competition because it gave me so much confidence that, okay, if I did it there, I can do it again, and it’s gonna become a normal habit for me. So when I came into the senior category, I was looking for that medal, and after the Asian Games, I started winning. I won the Asian Championship, also, I mean, I got the silver there (in 2024 before winning gold this year). Then in the team events, we got a lot of team medals and the World Cup final medal. So all these experiences, I think, will help me in the upcoming events.
I just want to get an idea of what sort of money goes into becoming a skeet shooter. Now this is for people who will be reading this, and maybe they want to become a skeet shooter. They would probably want to know this. What sort of money does it require for somebody who is starting out? And maybe also at the elite level, if you don’t mind, what sort of money have you spent on your gun and your gear?
Anantjeet: I actually don’t know how much money I have spent, but it has been a lot. But it’s an expensive sport. It’s not a rifle or pistol, it’s a shotgun. Nowadays, we have good support from the government and from the sponsors, and everyone has helped us to be what we are today. But back then, I think my father put in a lot of money and effort. It’s like 40, 50 rupees a cartridge, but it’s okay. I think it’s more of an investment for the later part of your life. You have to put in money and effort for it.
Nowadays, because of the government, I’m very happy, because my training is sponsored by them. After all the medals we have won, the government is putting in a lot of effort into it.
Just a ballpark value on your favourite gun that you use, how much does it range between?
Anantjeet: So, what I’m using right now is a DT 11 black, and it cost me around nine thousand euros. Roughly, nine lakh rupees right now, but it’s okay. I mean, for the next 10 years, 11 years, you can use the weapon and make full use of it.
I just wanted you to reflect on the people who are behind you, and I’m talking about your sponsors and the National Rifle Association, the sort of support that you have got. The changing scenario, because, as you said, things have been improving. They can obviously go much farther, but how do you see it growing?
Anantjeet: I think the central government is doing a great job, but I think state governments need to have a look at what the shooters or any sports athlete are capable of. And I think if the lower level is strong and then maybe we can produce better athletes than before. I think State-wise only, they need to check on the athletes, that, okay, these are probables who can represent India and will be great for the state.
If you win a competition, you are told this much money you’ll get because it is the money (that) is deserved by the athlete. They have put in a lot of money. Their parents have put in a lot of money, and we have put in a lot of time, which you can’t get back. And if you have put in so much effort, you need something to compensate, right? So they should see that, okay, if they have been promised this much amount of money or a job, then that needs to be delivered to them because they have put in a lot of effort to reach that position.
Alright. Last thing that I want to ask you about, if you can just reflect on the people who have helped you. So I’m talking about coaches. I’ve also heard that your father also trained you for a while, and just on the people who have played the biggest roles, and what has been your biggest learning. Obviously not just technical, but something that leaves an impression and those that are important advice that you feel everybody should have.
Anantjeet: I think all your loved ones, be it family or friends. They’ll always support you. My friends have been really supportive. They know that I’m doing something great for the Indian team or for India. So they have been very supportive. My family, especially my mother, my father, of course, because he introduced me to the sport, and he has so much interest in it, and he’s been putting in effort. But also, my mother back at home has been very supportive.
She makes sure that everything is on time for me. If I’m having meals, or if I’m getting proper sleep, or just general work stuff. You know the blood connection; they will be more concerned about you. They’ll do extra. They will always help you in any sort of way, even if it’s emotionally or financially. I have told them, okay, I need this much money for this training, or this coach is coming. They’ve never said no to me. They said, okay, you go.
I mean, as athletes, we have been spending so much time away from our families. We just come back home for like three-four days, and I don’t know how much time we get. We don’t get much time with them, with my friends also. But the love that they have for me can’t change. So they have been very helpful emotionally and financially.
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