Skeet shooter Anant Jeet Singh Naruka was the best Indian on show, returning a score of 72 after three rounds of qualifying at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, which placed him 20th in the standings on Wednesday. (More Sports News)
The other two Indians in the men's category, Sheeraz Sheikh and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, a veteran shooter with more than 25 years of experience, shot poor scores of 67 and 63 respectively to be placed way down the pecking order.
Sheeraj was 67th, while the 48-year-old Mairaj was a dismal 76th among 80 shooters in the fray after Day 1.
India's Kuldeep Sanyashi, who is competing for Ranking Points Only (RPO), fared much better than the two veterans, scoring 71 in three rounds of 25 each.
Paris Olympics quota winner Naruka overcame an opening round 22 to return with two perfect rounds of 25 each to finish just three off the leader and will hope to make it to the top-six on Thursday.
In women's skeet, all three Indians finished with identical scores of 69 to be in 13th, 15th and 19th spots respectively. Raiza Dhillon shot 22, 22, 25 to be 13th, while Maheshwari Chauhan (22, 23, 24) was 15th and Ganemat Sekhon (25, 22, 22) was placed 19th.
Georgia's Elizaveta Boiarshinova leads the field with a 73 on the opening day and nothing less than two perfect rounds will get the Indians into the top six.
The three women sheet shooters are also in an intense battle to earn crucial ranking points ahead of the Olympics cutoff date, to not only grab one of two available spots in the event, but also to ensure an additional start as mixed team skeet makes its Olympics debut.
