Mairaj Ahmad Khan clinches gold in 60th National Skeet Shooting Championship

Jaipur: Mairaj Ahmad Khan, India's first- ever World Cup medallist in skeet, clinched the gold medal at the 60th National Shooting Championship for Shotgun here today.

Representing Uttar Pradesh, Mairaj got the better of Haryana's Amrinder Singh Cheema 15-13 in the final of the skeet event.

In an intense six-man semifinal round, Mairaj qualified for the fold medal match after overcoming a shoot-off with Haryana's Man Singh and Uttar Pradesh's Md. Sheeraz Sheikh, all three of whom were tied on 14 at the end of the round.

Amrinder had proceeded straight to the gold medal match with a top score of 15 at the end of the semifinals. Man Singh beat Sheeraz 15-12 in the bronze medal match.

Earlier, Mairaj had topped the qualifying rounds with a score of 120, while Amrinder had qualified fifth with a score of 117.

It was an identical route to gold in the junior men's skeet as well for Haryana's Arjun Singh Mann. At the end of the semifinal round, Arjun, representing Haryana, was tied with Telengana's Ayush Rudraraju and Punjab's Sukhbir Singh Harika on a score of 13.

Meanwhile Rajasthan's Anantjeet Singh Naruka had made it through to the gold medal match with a score of 15. Arjun then went on to beat Anantjeet 15-12 in the final to win the title.

The team golds was bagged by Haryana in the seniors and Punjab in the juniors section.