Shotgun Olympic qualification: Maheshwari Chauhan stays in hunt for quota

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

She shot a perfect 25 in the second, 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 come up on Saturday, before the finals on Sunday, which follow 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.

India has won a total of 20 Paris Olympic quotas in Shooting but only four have come from the shotgun events. While Indian trap shooters are out of contention, the skeet shooters do have a chance tomorrow.