New Delhi: India’s Ganemat Sekhon, shot well to qualify third in the women’s skeet competition at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun in Cairo, Egypt, before bowing out in eighth place in the ranking round.
Gurjoat Khangura in the men’s skeet, however, missed a top-eight finish, when he went out in a shoot-off for the final qualifying spot.
Those were the best Indian results on Day 3 of the competitions which saw the first medals being awarded. Rio Olympic champion Gabrielle Rossetti of Italy won the men’s skeet even as teenaged Chinese Jiang Yiting, sealed a first World Cup win with a triumph in the women’s skeet competition.
Ganemat shot a perfect 25 in the fifth and final qualifying round earlier in the day to finish with a score of 117. That tied her with Italian Chiara Di Marziantonio whom she beat in a shoot-off 2-1 to claim the third spot behind Yiting and German Nadine Messerschmidt who shot 121 and 118 respectively.
Maheshwari Chauhan shot 118 to finish 18th among contenders while Darshna Rathore shot 110 to end in 26th place. Sanjan Sood, playing for ranking points, shot 104.
In men’s skeet, Gurjoat began the day in 11th place and then shot 23 in the final round to find himself tied with six others on 120 and vying for the eighth and final qualifying spot. He missed his second bird in the shoot-off to be among the first to bow out and finish in 13th place. Britain’s Mitchell Brooker-Smith won the shoot-off after hitting 12 consecutive birds.
The other two Indians in contention, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot 119 and 113 to finish 20th and 49th respectively. Sheeraz Sheikh playing for ranking points shot 116.
Mairaj, Anant Jeet, Ganemat and Maheshwari come back on Sunday for the Mixed Team Skeet competition.
(IANS)
