Rio Olympics 2016, India shooting: Mairaj Khan narrowly misses out on a semis spot on Day 2 of Skeet Qualifiers

The shooter had a score of 121 out of 125 but lost in the shoot off

Indian shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan was back in action once again on the second day of the qualifiers of Men’s skeet. The shooter raised hopes and almost made it to the semis but once again, luck wasn’t on the Indian’s side as he got knocked out in the shoot off. The Indian was tied with a score of 121 and was involved in a shoot off with four others with the same score that saw him ultimately knocked out of the competition, giving the nation yet another heartbreak.

The world number 10 ranked Khan was one of the first set of shooters to start on the second day. The shooter who had two amazing rounds on the first day of qualifiers before slipping up with a below par third round looked in no mood to repeat his mistakes.

The shooter started the day at number 10th and needed nothing less than perfect scores to climb up to the top six. The top six were the ones who go through to the semifinals of the event. Mairaj started the day brilliantly and brought his second perfect score of the qualifiers. He went through his sets of three with ease and hardly broke a sweat to march towards a perfect score that put him back in the hunt for a berth in the final. Among the other shooters, Marcus Svensson of Sweden missed the first shot of the qualifiers and with that a chance of equaling the world record of 125.

On the other hand, Abdullah Alrashidi continued his merry run to bring up his third perfect score and with Svensson missing his shot, the Kuwaiti could rise to the top of the tables at the end of the second round. However, the miss that was cheered by Indian fans was that of Azmy Mehelba as it put the Indian contender 5th on the table with one round still to go.

The smiles vanished off the Indian faces soon when Khan missed one shot quite early in his final round and he needed once again nothing short of a miracle. And for once miracle was what struck Rio, or at least Mairaj would like to believe it, as France’s Eric Delaunay and Denmark’s Jasper Hansen both missed their shots to squeeze out the door a little that saw the Indian sneak through to the 5th position with a final score of 121. The rollercoaster wasn’t to end here though as the Indian dropped to the 7th place and was joined there with four more men.

This situation meant that Mairaj had to now go through a shoot off with others to progress to the semis. Up against him were Gabriele Rossetti, Anthony Terras, Eric Delaunay and Jesper Hensen. However, just like other times in this Olympics, the last hurdle proved to be the most difficult for another Indian to cross and Mairaj got knocked out in the shoot off and failed to secure a spot in the finals.

Top 6 who qualified for the finals:

1) Abdullah Alrashidi – 123

2) Marcus Svensson – 123

3) Stefan Nilsson – 122

4) Mikola Milchev – 122

5) Gabrielle Rossetti – 121

6) Jesper Hansen - 121

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Edited by Staff Editor