Olympic Qualification C’ship: Maheshwari shoots 48 to stay in the hunt

Maheshwari Chauhan kept the Indian hopes high at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Final Olympic Qualification Championship Shotgun in Doha, perched up at the sixth position in the 71-strong women’s Skeet field, after two rounds of qualification.

Maheshwari shot a perfect 25 in the second round, for a tally of 48 on the day, which tied her with nine others and put her one behind a group of four leaders which included Rio Olympic champion Diana Bacosi of Italy. Two more rounds are scheduled for Saturday, before the final on Sunday, which follows the fifth and final qualifying round. The top six go through to the final.

Maheshwari’s teammates Areeba Khan and Ganemat Sekhon shot scores of 45 and 44 to be in the 29th and 43rdspots respectively.

The men had a tougher day as all three of Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Sheeraz Sheikh and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot identical scores of 46 over two rounds. Mairaj was best placed in the 69th position post-classification, while Sheeraz and Angad were currently occupying the 78th and 88th spots.

All six Skeet shooters are chasing one possible Paris Olympic quota place that they can win in their respective events.