Six Indian skeet shooters to compete at ISSF World Championship for Shotgun in Greece

Athens, Oct 9 (PTI) Olympians Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka will lead a six-member Indian skeet team at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship for Shotgun beginning here on Friday.

Bhavtegh Singh Gill is the third Indian in the men's field.

In the women’s section, another Olympian Raiza Dhillon will spearhead the Indian challenge alongside Ganemat Sekhon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal.

The reigning Asian champion Naruka will join a formidable line-up of 121 shooters, headlined by Vincent Hancock of the United States, a four-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion.

Mairaj, India’s most successful international skeet shooter, will look to use his experience to win a third individual ISSF medal.

The others in the fray include Paris Olympics silver medallist Conner Prince, along with 2023 World Championship silver medallist Eetu Kallioinen of Finland and bronze winner Azmy Mehelba of Egypt.

Adding further competition to the men’s field are several top shooters including world No 1 Christian Elliott (USA), world No 3 Hector Andres Flores Barahona of Chile and world No 4 Jakub Tomecek of Czechia.

The women’s skeet competition will feature 63 shooters vying for top honours.

Dhillon enters the championship following her back-to-back silver medals at the Junior World Cup in Suhl and New Delhi, along with a strong fifth-place finish at the senior Lima World Cup earlier in the year.

Sekhon, also a former Junior World Championship silver medallist, will also vie for a third individual ISSF medal.

Leading the global field is world No 1 Samantha Simonton of the USA, who won gold in Lonato and also secured silver in the Lima and Nicosia World Cup stages. She will be joined by her compatriot Dania Jo Vizzi, world No 3 and the Baku World Championship silver medallist.

Also in contention are world No 2 Arina Kuznetsova (AIN), and world No 6 Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece.

Veteran American Kimberly Rhode (world No 11), a three-time Olympic gold medallist, and China’s Jiang Yiting (world No 7) completes a highly competitive women’s field.

The skeet qualification rounds will start on Friday with the shooters firing 50 targets each on Day 1 and Day 2, followed by 25 targets on October 12.

After a total of 125 targets, the top six shooters in both men’s and women’s events will qualify for the finals scheduled on Sunday. PTI PDS PDS DDV