New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Ganemat Sekhon finished on top in the skeet finals of the Second Shotgun National Shooting Trials, held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in the National Capital Region (NCR) here on Friday.

Mairaj shot 55 in the final, edging out Paris Olympian Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who shot 54, by a single shot. Ganemat also secured victory by a one-shot margin, finishing with 53 ahead of Maheshwari Chauhan’s 52. Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Parinaaz Dhaliwal finished third in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.

Earlier, in the final two rounds of qualification, Bhavtegh Singh Gill shot 22 and 24 to add to his 73 from Thursday, qualifying in first place. Mairaj totalled 118, while Smit Singh with 117, Angad with 116, and Anantjeet with 115 completed the top six qualifiers.

In the women’s category, Ganemat topped the qualification round with 114 shots, followed closely by Maheshwari with 113. Parinaaz also shot 113, while Oshmi Shrivas, Darshana Rathore, and Mansi Raghuwanshi rounded out the top six with scores of 108, 107 (SO–3), and 107 (SO–2), respectively.

A separate selection trial was not conducted for junior athletes; as a result, Oshmi and Mansi were also placed first and second in the junior category with the same scores. Agrima Kanwar placed third with a score of 104.

In the Men’s Junior category, Yuvaan finished on top with a score of 110, while Yashwardhan Singh Rajawat and Anjaneya Singh Mandawa finished second and third with scores of 108 and 106, respectively.

The Selection Committee will consider the scores from the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, for junior athletes participating in that event, as Selection Trials 2 coincides with it. Scores of such shooters will not be marked as “zero.”

NST 2 will be held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range from May 21-26, 2025. The Trap event will take place from May 24-26, 2025. NST 3 will be hosted at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy, Bhopal, from June 1-8, 2025. The Skeet event will run from June 1-4, followed by the Trap competition from June 5-8, with each discipline concluding in finals on the last day of their respective schedule.

Eligibility for the upcoming Selection Trials is based on performances at the 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) and the 3rd Digvijay Singh Memorial Shooting Championship. To qualify, shooters must have recorded a minimum score of 110 (Seniors) and 100 (Juniors) in Trap and Skeet (Men), and 95 (Seniors) and 90 (Juniors) in the corresponding Women’s events.

Additionally, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardees and Arjuna Awardees will be eligible to participate irrespective of their scores.

–IANS

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