National Shotgun Championship: Mairaj shows his class

Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan clinched the national skeet gold with a thrilling 26-25 victory in the shoot-off over the young Angad Vir Singh Bajwa.

Mairaj had done very well to bounce back into the reckoning after a slow start in the qualification phase.

 

Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan asserted his undisputed class by clinching the national skeet gold yet again, with a thrilling 26-25 victory in the shoot-off over the young Angad Vir Singh Bajwa in the 61st National Shotgun championship at the Dr. Karni Singh range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.

Mairaj had done very well to bounce back into the reckoning after a slow start in the qualification phase.He wound up with 122, following rounds of 23, 25, 25, 25 and 24.

Read: Maheshwari Chauhan wins women's skeet gold

He was on par with former Asian champion Man Singh, who later took the bronze ahead of Amrinder Singh Cheema, Gurjoat Singh and Arozepal Sandhu.

Angad Bajwa had topped qualification with 123, as he missed two birds spread over three days of competition over five rounds.

 

Sheeraz Sheikh, a regular in the national team this season missed out on the final after he lost the shoot-off on 118, as he was pipped 12-11 by Arozepal for the last spot. There were as many as seven shooters fighting for that one spot in the final. Subhash Kumar, Karam Sukhbir Singh, Jitender Beniwal, Ayush Rudraraju, Smit Singh were the ones who lost the race.

Mohd. Hamza Sheikh who shot 117, and could not join that fight for a final berth among the men, went on to clinch the junior gold as he won the shoot-off 7-6 against Gurnihal Singh Garcha after the two tied on 53 in the final.

The results:

Men; Skeet: 1. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 57(26) 122; 2. Angad Vir Singh Bajwa 57(25) 123; 3. Man Singh 46 (122).

Junior men: 1. Mohd. Hamza Sheikh 53(7); 2. Gurinhal Singh Garcha 53(6); 3. Ayush Rudraraju 38.