New Delhi: Veteran skeet shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan celebrated the biggest day of his 12-year-long shooting career, when he clinched a Rio Olympic Games quota place for India at the ISSF Shotgun World Championship, being held at Lonato, Italy.
Mairaj who started the second day of Men’s Skeet competitions in ninth position with a score of 74 after the first three rounds of Qualification, entered the Skeet finals in sixth position with a total score of 122 out of a maximum possible 125, after five rounds of qualification.
Given that all the first five shooters in qualification had already booked their Rio berths, Mairaj secured one of the two available quota places. The other quota went to Germany’s Ralf Buchheim who ended his qualification round in eighth position with an identical score of 122. This is India’s first Rio quota place in the Shotgun disciplines.
Delighted at the turn of events, Mr. Raninder Singh, President, National Rifle Association of India, said, “This performance and quota place gives me the most satisfaction as being a Shotgun shooter myself, it is very close to my heart. What gives us all even more happiness is that the first quota in Shotgun came in Skeet, which has been traditionally one of our weaker disciplines. I am also immensely happy and proud of Mairaj, as all the hardships he has had to undergo all these years and the dedication and hard work that he has put in into his sport despite, is finally bearing fruit.”
40-year old Noida based Mairaj, who hails from the ‘Ceramic City’ of Khurja in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, had previously won a Team Skeet Gold at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. The other quota winners from India’s shooting squad thus far are former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, Olympic Bronze medalist Gagan Narang, Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Gurpreet Singh, Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh and Apurvi Chandela.
India’s next and last chance to secure Olympic quota places will come up at the Asian Shooting Championships in November, which are slated to be held in Kuwait city.
