Shooter Man Singh eyes maiden final at World Cup

IANS

Baku (Azebaijan), June 27 (IANS) Promising Skeet shooter Man Singh finished fourth in the qualifying round to be the lone bright spot for India on the penultimate day of the ongoing ISSF World Cup here on Monday.

Singh put himself in a good position to qualify for his first ever World Cup finals round, after finishing the first day of qualifying in the men's Skeet with a score of 74 out of a possible 75 to be fourth overall. The top six qualify for the finals.

Rio-bound Mairaj Ahmad Khan is also in with an outside chance having shot 73 to lie 18th while Sheeraz Sheikh was placed 31st with a score of 71.

In the day's other events, Lajja Gauswami and Anjum Moudgil ended respectively on 15th and 33rd spot in women's 50-metre Rifle 3 positions event. Lajja fired a total of 578 points while Anjum managed to score 571.

In women's Skeet, Rashmee Rathore recorded the best Indian finish shooting 67 out of 75 in qualifying to finish in 22nd place. Maheshwari Chauhan ended 26th with a score of 65, while Arti Singh Rao shot 61 to finish 32nd.

Rio-bound Jitu Rai is the only medallist in this edition of the World Cup, having settled for the silver in 10m Air Pistol event.

The other Indian finalists at the event were Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang (in two events), Pooja Ghatkar, Heena Sidhu, Kynan Chenai, besides Jitu.

--IANS

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