Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan of Uttar Pradesh and Gurjoat Singh of Punjab, maintained their clean slates shooting down 100 out of 100 targets over two days and four rounds of qualifying to lead the 110-strong men’s skeet field at the Karni Singh Shooting Range, where the National Shooting Championship Competitions for shotgun events is currently underway.
Punjab also led all other skeet shooting categories with Rajveer Singh Gill leading the men’s junior field while Ganemat Shekhon led both the women’s and women’s junior categories with one more round to go on Friday, followed by the finals on the same day.
Mairaj and Gurjoat began Thursday sharing the top spot with India international Smit Singh, who had also shot two perfect rounds on Wednesday. However, after Thursday’s rounds, Mairaj and Gurjoat were the only two left across categories, yet to miss a target.
Smit missed a couple on the day to be part of a chasing pack of four with 98 hits. Others alongside him include Tokyo 2020 quota winner and joint finals world record holder Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and yet another India international Amarinder Singh Cheema, besides the youngster Rajveer.
Rajveer was impressive, returning three perfect rounds on the bounce, including two on Thursday to also lead the men’s junior field.
Ganemat Shekhon, part of the last Indian team at the Doha Asian Championships, missed three on the day and with her two misses on Wednesday, was one ahead of Areeba Khan who has missed six overall. Darshna Rathore of Rajasthan was giving Areeba company on 94. The same athletes in exactly the same order also led the women’s junior field.
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