Indian shooters underwhelm at Baku World Cup

Indian skeet shooters underperformed at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, with none qualifying for the finals. Anant Jeet Singh Naruka (15th), Mairaj Ahmad Khan (76th), and Sheeraz Sheikh (54th) struggled in the men's competition, while Raiza Dhillon (16th), Maheshwari Chauhan (20th), and Ganemat Sekhon (25th) faced similar challenges in the women's event. Indian trap shooters also failed to impress, with Vivaan Kapoor narrowly missing the finals and finishing seventh.

Indian shooters' dismal run in the ISSF World Cup in Baku continued with none of the skeet exponents in both men's and women's events making it to the finals on Thursday.

Asian Games silver medallist Anant Jeet Singh Naruka finished 15th with an aggregate qualifying score of 120/125, while 48-year-old veteran marksman Mairaj Ahmad Khan could only manage 105 and finished his campaign at 76th spot among 80 shooters in the fray.

Olympian Mairaj, who had finished 75th among 84 shooters in the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship (shotgun) in Doha last month, could not improve upon his performance in the World Cup in Baku, managing identical scores of 21/25 in the two qualifying rounds on Thursday to have a five-round aggregate of 105/125.

The third Indian in the fray, Sheeraz Sheikh aggregated 115 over five qualifying rounds of 25 shots each to finish 54th.

In women's skeet, Raiza Dhillon ended up 16th with an aggregate of 114/125, while Maheshwari Chauhan was 20th with 113 points. Another young shooter, Ganemat Sekhon finished 25th with 111 points. She had a forgettable fourth round of 18/25.

Indian trap shooters had earlier in the World Cup failed to cover themselves in glory, with none of them making it to the finals.

Vivaan Kapoor was unlucky to miss the six-shooter finals, finishing seventh, while 2024 Paris hopeful Prithvi Tondaiman finished 24th (117/125) and Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta (116) ended up 39th.

Veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu, who competed only for Ranking Points (RPO), was a distant 52nd.

Olympic quota winner Rajeshwari Kumari had finished 23rd in trap with a qualification round score of just 108/125, while another women's trap stalwart Shreyasi Singh could only manage 107.

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