Shooting World Cup: Zoravar Sandhu placed 11th after day one of trap qualifications in Lonato

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Veteran Indian trap shooter Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot 73 (24, 25, 24) after three qualifying rounds, as Trap competitions in the year’s fourth and final International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun, got underway at the Tiro A Volo Trap Concaverde in Lonato, Italy, on Friday.

Zoravar’s effort favourably placed him 11th in the men’s trap among contenders, with two more qualifying rounds comprising 50 targets, coming up ahead of the final on Saturday. The top six in the 183 (including RPO shooters) strong field go through to the finals.

Zoravar’s teammates, Lakshay Sheoran and Jaswinder Singh, shot scores of 70 (24,22,24) and 69 (23, 24, 22) respectively.

In the women’s trap, Preeti Rajak (20, 24, 22) was the best Indian on show, ranking 27th among contenders provisionally with a score of 66. Neeru also shot a 66 while Pragati Dubey shot 57.

India’s skeet shooting team has missed out on making the top-six finals cut in the ongoing World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy.

Senior pro and Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan (24, 25, 24, 25, 23) among three Indians across the men’s and women’s skeet competition, 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.

--IANS

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