New Delhi, Saturday, July 24, 2021: Action also begins for the Shotgun disciplines in Shooting at the Asaka Shooting Range on Sunday, day two of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games Shooting competition, as India’s Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa attempt to qualify for the medal rounds of the Men’s Skeet competition.

Sunday will be day one of qualifying in Men’s Skeet which will have three of the five 25-shot rounds being played out from 6 am IST through the day. Day two, Monday, has the final two rounds before the top six make it to the 60-shot final (Monday, 12.20 pm IST).

Mairaj, now into his second Olympic Games and Angad making his debut, have been training in Italy in the build-up to the Games. It is a compact but naturally strong Olympic field of 30 and the two will have their task cut out to make it to the medal round.

In Skeet, clay targets are thrown in a particular order for each of the eight Shooting stations set on a semi-circular field from two “High House” & “Low House” strategically placed throwing machines. A total of 25 such targets are thrown in one series.

In such world-class competitions often a score of 123 or 124 out of 125 in qualifying might lead to a shoot-off to separate the top six. Mairaj has a world competition best of 122 and Angad 121 and will have to shoot well above themselves to have a decent shot at a medal.

Men’s Skeet

Favourites: Vincent Hancock (USA- two time Olympic and four-time World Champion); Gabriele Rossetti (Italy- Rio Olympic Champion)

Strong Contenders: Jesper Hansen (Denmark), Tamarro Cassandro (Italy), Abdullah Al-Rashidi (Kuwait), Saif Bin Futais (UAE); Paul Adams (Australia), Federico Gil (Argentina)