Skeet shooter Sheeraz Shaikh off to great start at ISSF World Cup

Sheeraz Shaikh and Mairaj Ahmed Khan in the men's skeet and Gurpreet Singh in the men's rapid fire pistol got off to positive starts in their respective events on day eight of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) being held in Rio De Janerio's Olympic Shooting Centre in Brazil.

Sheeraz began his first round of qualification in the men's skeet with a perfect score of 25 to be on top of the standings while Mairaj was lying 22nd having shot two rounds of 24 and 22 each.

Man Singh was in 46th place. There is still a long way to go with the skeet finals slated for Sunday and Saturday being the second day of qualification.

Gurpreet shot 289 to finish his qualification stage one round in 14th place. He started strongly shooting 99 and 98 in the first two relays of 10 shots each before registering a 92 in the third relay to slide down a little in the leader board. Stage two of qualification and the finals of the event are slated for Saturday.

Earlier on day seven of the competition, Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang and Chain Singh shot 615.5 and 617.1 in the qualification round of the men's 50m prone event to end 45th and 48th respectively.