Sheeraz best-placed Indian in men’s skeet

Sheeraz Sheikh shot 49 out of 50 and was the best-placed Indian shooter at 11th position with three more qualification rounds to go in the men’s skeet event of the ISSF World Cup here on Saturday.

The remaining qualification rounds will be followed by the six-man final. 81 shooters are in the fray.

Two other Indians in the event — Smit Singh and Angad Bajwa — shot scores of 48 and 47 to lie 23rd and 34th positions respectively. On the penultimate day of competitions, American shooting legend Kimberly Rhode won the women’s skeet gold. It was her 17th World Cup stage career gold and she won it with a world record to boot, shooting 58 out of 60 targets in the final. USA’s Rhode is a three-time Olympic champion and a former world champion.

India’s Saniya Sheikh registered a 22ndplace finish in the event with a score of 111 in qualification out of a possible 125.

Ganemat Shekhon shot 102 to finish 52nd while Maheshwari Chauhan ended at 54th spot with a score of 101. China and Russia continued to dominate the competition, accounting for seven of the 14 gold medals won so far with the remaining seven being distributed equally among hosts Korea, Australia, Italy, Slovakia, Finland, Belarus and the USA.

Of the 42 total medals, the two sporting giants have won 12 between them. India are in 11th place with Shahzar Rizvi winning silver in the men’s 10m air pistol earlier in the competition.