Skeet shooters fail as India finish 12th in Changwon WC

Indian shooters drew a blank in the men's skeet competition as the country finished 12th at the year's second ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Changwon, Korea today.

Sheeraz Sheikh, who had shot 49 out 50 to place 11th after the first day of qualifications yesterday, shot rounds of 23, 22 and 24 today to end in the 23rd place with a score of 118.

Two other Indians in the fray Smit Singh and Angad Bajwa shot scores of 116 each to finish 37th and 43rd respectively. Only the top six among 81 shooters in the fray qualified for the finals and 121 was the final qualifying score.

USA's Vincent Hancock, a double Olympic and three time world champion, beat reigning Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti of Italy to win the men's skeet gold on the concluding day of the event.

The legend has so far claimed victory in both the World Cup stages this year and yet again equalled the world record score of 59 out of 60 shots in the final.

Shahzar Rizvi's silver in the 10m men's air pistol competition helped India finish 12th in the medals tally here. A total of 24 out of 70 participating nations won medals. China topped the tally with four gold medals, followed by Russia with three and USA with two.