Abhay Singh Sekhon raises final hopes in Nicosia World Cup

Nicosia (Cyprus), May 6 (PTI) Young Indian shooter Abhay Singh Sekhon raised prospects of entering the final of the men's skeet event by ending the second day of qualifications at fifth place in the ISSF Shotgun World Cup here on Tuesday.

The youngest member of the Indian men's skeet team aggregated 98 after four rounds.

The Punjab shooter was just one off the pace, with former world champion and Olympic silver medallist Jesper Hansen of Denmark and former junior world champion Elia Sdruccioli of Italy leading the 91-strong field with 99 hits each.

Abhay (25 24 24 25) had missed just one target over two rounds on Monday and repeated the feat on day two, only this time finishing with a perfect round instead of beginning with one.

He has six other strong shooters for company on the same tally and the fight for the top six finalists on day three will likely go down to the last shot and multiple shoot-offs ahead of the final.

Among other Indians in the fray, double Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot 95 (24 24 24 23) to be in 36th place while Ritu Raj Bundela shot 90 (23 21 23 23) for the 68th spot in the men's standings.

In women's skeet, Paris Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan had a better day with two rounds of 25 and 24 each, giving her a two-day tally of 93 and 16th place in the standings.

Parinaaz Dhaliwal (23 24 20 25) had a tough third round but finished with a 25 to lie 19th, a point behind Maheshwari, while Yashasvi Rathore (18 23 24 21) with 88 was in 38th position. PTI AH AH UNG