Angad Bajwa finishes 18th in skeet, Mairaj 25th

India’s Angad Vir Singh Bajwa finished 18th while his senior compatriot Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended 25th in the men’s skeet event of the Tokyo Olympics here on Monday.

The 25-year-old Angad shot 120 across five series and Mairaj could manage only 117 at the Asaka Range.

Placed a creditable 11th overnight and eyeing a finals berth at the end of the first three rounds, Angad missed his target thrice on the second day of the qualifying to bow out of contention without a fight.

His sequence of scores read 24 25 24 23 24.

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On the other hand, Mairaj was could not improve on his overnight position and ended the competition with scores of 25 24 22 23 23 for a total of 117.

France’s Eric Delaunay topped the qualification with an Olympic record 124 6 (including shoot-off), while Italy’s Tammaro Cassandro (124 5) grabbed the second place.

Eetu Kallioinen of Finland was third with 123 in the qualifying in which 30 shooters competed.

In the skeet qualifications, each shooter pulls the trigger 125 times across five series and from eight shooting stations arranged in a semi-circle. The top six qualify for the finals, where they shoot 60 targets.

Angad holds the world record in skeet with 60 out of 60, achieved at the Asian Shotgun Championships in Kuwait, in 2018. He had shot another 60/60 next year, in New Delhi, to getter the better of Mairaj on way to defending his Nationals crown.

Angad missed two targets out of 75 , be placed 11th on countback at the end of the third round on Sunday.

Mairaj had 71 and was placed 25th out of the 30 shooters in fray.