Near Misses for Indian Shooters at ISSF World Cup in Cyprus

In a closely contested ISSF World Cup Shotgun stage in Nicosia, Cyprus, Indian Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan and shooter Abhay Singh Sekhon narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in the women's and men's skeet competition. Chauhan concluded the event with a score of 118, falling two points shy of the joint sixth place. Meanwhile, Sekhon ended just a point behind the sixth qualifying spot with a score of 121. Ireland's Jack Fairclough secured the final qualifying slot in the men's category with a score of 122.

Despite Chauhan's near-perfect finish with a score of 25 in the final round, earlier rounds of 22 hindered her advance, as a shoot-off for the fifth and sixth positions was set at 120 points in the women's event. Sekhon, who was in a promising fifth position leading into the final shots, ultimately ended in 16th place following two crucial misses in his last round.

In other results, Parinaaz Dhaliwal concluded the competition in 16th place with 116 points in the women's category, while Yashasvi Rathore, making her World Cup debut, finished 35th with 112 points. Among the Indian men, Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan was ranked 36th with 119 points, and Ritu Raj Bundela rounded out the Indian contingent in 63rd place with 114 points. Arina Kuznetsova took home gold in the women's event representing neutral athletes, while Italy's Elia Sdruccioli clinched the gold in the men's skeet event.

(With inputs from agencies.)