New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) India’s skeet shooting team has missed out on making the top-six final cut in the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy.

Senior pro and Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan (24, 25, 24, 25, 23) — the best placed among three Indians across the men’s and women’s skeet competitions who were best placed after two days (100 targets) of qualifying, to make it through — shot a 23 in his fifth and final round, to finish 30th in the huge 176-strong men’s skeet field. He tallied a total of 121.

Other contenders like Bhavtegh Gill (23, 25, 25, 25, 21) shot 21 on Tuesday morning, to total 119, while Ganemat Sekhon (23, 25, 24, 24, 20) in the women’s skeet, shot 20, to end with 116. They finished 75th and 30th, respectively.

Also in the women’s skeet, Olympians Maheshwari Chauhan (24, 22, 22, 25, 23) and Raiza Dhillon (22, 23, 24, 24, 22) finished with rounds of 23 and 22 each, to tally 116 and 115 respectively, for 27th and 33rd spot finishes.

Another Olympian, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (24, 24, 24, 23, 24), made up lost ground in men’s skeet, firing a 24 in his final effort to finish with 119 and a 67th spot finish.

The Trap events begin next, with Friday (July 11) being the first day of qualifying.

Earlier on Monday, Bhavtegh Singh Gill fired two perfect rounds of 25 each to bring himself into finals contention alongside senior pro Mairaj Ahmad Khan, both finishing with identical scores of 98, after four qualifying rounds of the men’s skeet competition.

Ganemat Sekhon, in the women’s skeet, also remained in strong contention with rounds of 24 each, giving her a tally of 96 and eighth spot provisionally.

Ganemat began her qualifying rounds at the Trap Concaverde on Monday, in 10th spot overnight. She missed one target each in the two rounds scheduled, to rise up to eighth at the end of day two.

However, things did not work out on the final day as they failed to improve their positions.

–IANS

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