Shooter Mairaj Ahmad finishes 9th in men's Skeet qualifiers

Indian shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan crashed out of men's Skeet qualification round after finishing ninth following a shoot-off for the fifth and sixth place here on Saturday.

Mairaj, who shot a total of 121, along with four other shooters required a shoot-off for the final two spots to reach the semi-finals at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

The 40-year-old Indian found himself out of the race after managing to shoot a +3 to drop to the ninth place.

Abdullah Alrashidi, a Kuwaiti competing under the International Olympic Committee flag, took the top spot in the qualification round with an Olympic record of 123 while Sweden's Marcus Svensson finished second but with the same score while another Swede, Stefan Nilsson finished third with 122.

Starting the day at the 10th spot with a cumulative 72 from Day 1 on Friday, Mairaj scored 25 in the fourth round to climb to the sixth place with an overall total of 97.

Mairaj finished his final round scoring 24 to jump to fifth with an overall total of 121. But four other shooters -- Italy's Gabriele Rossetti, Denmark's Jesper Hansen, Frenchmen Eric Delaunay and Anthony Terras -- also finished with the same total, which needed a shoot-off for deciding the final two spots.

In the shoot-off, Gabriele and Jesper scored a +12 each to seal the final two places ending the Indian's campaign in the discipline.

--IANS

tri/vm