Mairaj Khan crowned skeet champion at 61st National Shotgun C'ship

India's top skeet shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan was crowned national champion after a marathon final at New Delhi's Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on the concluding day of the 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions (61st NSCC) for Shotgun events.

In a battle between India's present and future of men's skeet shooting, Mairaj, representing Uttar Pradesh (UP) and youngster Angad Vir Singh Bajwa of Punjab, were engaged in a grueling battle for top honours as both recorded 57 out of 60 hits in the final and then went through a marathon shoot-off before Mairaj came through 26-25 to clinch Gold.

Man Singh of Haryana won the Bronze with a score of 46 in the finals.

Earlier in qualification, Angad topped the field with a high score of 123 out of 125 while Mairaj was third among six to qualify with a score of 122. Angad,however, won the Team Gold in the event, combining with Amarinder Cheema and Sukhbir Singh Harika for a total of 356, ahead of Haryana's 351.

Mairaj and his UP team won Bronze with a combined total of 348.

There was another shoot-off to determine the Gold medal in the Junior Men's Skeet, where Chattisgarh's Mohd. Hamza Sheikh prevailed over Punjab's Gurnihal Singh Garcha 7-6 after both were tied on 53 hits. Ayush Rudraraju of Tripura won Bronze recording 38 hits in the final.

Just like Angad in men's skeet, Gurnihal did manage to win the Junior Team Gold with his Punjab teammates Abinash Pratap Singh Sidhu and Indereshwar Singh Sekhon recording a combined total of 336, ahead of second placed Rajasthan with 326 and third-placed Madhya Pradesh with 285.