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Manavjit Singh Sandhu participated in the qualifiers for the ISSF World Cup Shotgun Finals today, finishing Day 1 of Qualification in first.
The Indian shooter, who is right-handed, shot a 24 in the first round, missing only one of his targets, in the first round. He shot the subsequent two rounds with perfect scores to qualify in top position ahead of tomorrow.
The 20th of October will see the second day of qualification in the morning, followed by the men's finals in the afternoon.
Following Sandhu was Italian shooter Giovanni Pellileo, who went 25-24-25 in his three rounds to finish at 74, the same score as his Indian competitor. Also sharing a 74-point score with the pair was Russian shooter Alexey Alipov, who lost out on a point in the final round.
Sandhu is the only Indian at the event, and the Khel Ratna awardee has represented India at the Olympic Games on 3 different occasions – at Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012. He was bestowed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2006 for outstanding achievements to Indian sports
His last win came at the ISSF World Cup came in 2014 in Tucson, Arizona in the United States of America, where Sandhu took the individual trap gold.
The 39-year-old’s father, Gurbir Singh Sandhu, is a former Olympian himself and a recipient of the Arjuna Award.
