New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) India’s Bhavtegh Singh Gill, a two-time Junior World Championship medallist, made a perfect start to his campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship Shotgun 2025 in Athens, Greece, hitting all 50 targets on the opening day of the men’s skeet qualification at the Malakasa Shooting Range on Friday.

Bhavtegh’s perfect round saw him join elite company alongside four-time Olympic champion and three-time World Champion Vincent Hancock of the United States, 2000 Olympic gold medallist Mikola Milchev of Ukraine, ISSF World Cup medallist Henrik Jansson of Sweden, Kacper Jerzyall Baksalary (Poland), and Emil Kjeldgaard (Denmark), all of whom also registered perfect 50s to share the top of the leaderboard after Day 1.

Among other Indians, Olympian and reigning Asian Champion Anantjeet Singh Naruka hit 48 (24, 24) to sit in 35th place, while two-time Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan with 45 (24, 21) to finish the day in 97th position in a highly competitive 116-athlete field.

In the women’s skeet, Olympian Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal shot 45 (23, 22) and 44 (21, 23) respectively to occupy the 37th and 38th positions. Ganemat Sekhon is placed 45th with 43 (21, 22) hits after the opening two rounds.

Former Asian champion China’s Jinmei Gao, Anastasia Eleftheriou of Cyprus, Aislin Jones of Australia, World No.1 Samantha Simonton of the USA, and Canada’s Madeliene Lieselotte Boyd share the lead in the women’s event after recording 49 hits each.

The qualification rounds continue on Saturday with two more rounds of 25 targets each before concluding on Sunday with one round of 25 targets, when the top six shooters in both men’s and women’s categories will advance to the finals scheduled for 5:30 pm IST (women’s) and 7:00 pm IST (men’s) on Sunday (October 12, 2025), where the new World Champions will be crowned.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has selected a strong team to participate in the ISSF. World Championship Shotgun 2025 in Athens, Greece,

–IANS

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