NEW DELHI: The year’s sixth ISSF World Cup Shotgun stage, has got underway in Lonato, Italy, with pre-event training for Skeet shooters scheduled for Sunday, before competitions begin on Monday.
India’s six-member Skeet shooting team comprises of senior pro and Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Gurjoat Khangura in Men’s Skeet, while Ganemat Sekhon, Darshna Rathore and Maheshwari Chauhan take aim in the Women’s Skeet competition.
For the likes of Anantjeet, Gurjoat, Ganemat and Darshna, this will be vital practice before the crucial World Championships in August in Baku, Azerbaijan, where as many as four Paris 2024 Olympics quota places will be available in each event. The mentioned four also find themselves in the Hangzhou Asian Games squad, which comes up in September.
Six more members will also be taking part in the Trap competitions which begin next Saturday, after the conclusion of the Skeet events. While Trap has opened its Paris quota account after Bhowneesh Mendiratta finished fourth at the World Championships last year, Indian Skeet shooters are yet to win a quota place and will be looking forward to the Lonato World Cup, to iron out any shortcomings and assess themselves against a huge world class field.
The Skeet squad has already reached Lonato and began unofficial training at the Trap Concaverde Shooting Range, venue of the World Cup stage.