Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 25 (ANI): Indian shooter Kamaljeet said he remained focused on enjoying the moment rather than putting himself under pressure during the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team final, where he and Suruchi Singh won gold at the Asian Games 2026 on Friday.
Kamaljeet said the medal was the result of seven years of hard work and described himself as an athlete first, even after securing the gold medal.
"I am still just an athlete. The medal has come—that is my good fortune and the result of the hard work I have been putting in for the past seven years. As for being an athlete, we will always remain athletes. We were before, and we will remain so afterwards as well," Kamaljeet told ANI after winning gold alongside Suruchi.
Asked about his mindset during the gold medal match, Kamaljeet said there was no excessive pressure on the Indian duo as they were confident of securing a medal after reaching the final.
"In my mind, it was pure enjoyment. It wasn't like we got overly tense thinking, "We have to do this at all costs." We knew we would secure a medal. When we reached the final, we were discussing among ourselves that we would comfortably get a medal. We didn't know for sure that it would be gold, but gold came, and that too with an Asian Games record—so that’s a really great thing," he said.
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.
Reflecting on India's wait for a shooting gold at the ongoing Games, Kamaljeet said the victory was only the beginning and expressed confidence that more gold medals would follow.
"We have made a start, but more gold medals will definitely follow. Our shooting team is very strong, sir. Only a few matches have taken place so far. For us in the pistol events, there was a feeling that we hadn't won a medal yet and this was our last match, so we wanted to make sure at least one came," he added.
The victory marked India's second gold medal of the Asian Games 2026, following the women's cricket team's title-winning performance. (ANI)
"It was pure enjoyment": Kamaljeet after winning Asian Games shooting gold with Suruchi
