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Mairaj Khan creates history, becomes first Indian to win skeet gold in ISSF World Cup. More sports news – Times of India

July 18, 2022
Bharat Times

Mairaj Khan Facing bad weather and bad light, he created history on Monday. The Aligarh shooter became the first skeet shooter from India to win a gold medal in the men’s event. world Cup Topping the podium at the ISSF event in Changwon, South Korea.
The 46-year-old Mairaj, who became the first Indian skeet shooter to qualify for the Olympics in 2016, scored 37 runs in the rain-hit final to win the gold medal.
In the qualifiers, the player from Uttar Pradesh tied for eighth place with 119 points, with four other shooters including Tokyo bronze medalist Abdullah Alrashidi.

Mairaj collected 12 points in the shoot-off to finish eighth for the ranking round. In the ranking round, Mairaj made 27 runs to reach the 4-man final.
In the 40-shot final, Mairaj scored 37 runs beating South Korea’s Kim Minsu (36) and Britain’s Ben Llewellyn (26).
The final was delayed by about an hour and it was 7 p.m. local time when the final began, making it difficult for the shooters to see the target.
“It was a tough match. The weather conditions made it difficult for all of us to shoot. It was raining and there was a lot of wind,” Mairaj told TOI.
Mairaj is the only skeet shooter to have shot in two Olympic sports. He finished ninth at the Rio Games and 25th at the Tokyo Olympics.

Mairaj said he had to resume his shooting routine after the Tokyo disappointment. “After Tokyo, I took a break and found a new coach, ricardo filipelliwho has been working with me for the last six months. I think we are on the right track, at least that’s what today’s match tells us.”
Unlike before, Mairaj and Filippelli preferred to train at Aligarh instead of their usual training site. Karni Singh Shooting Range In Tughlakabad, New Delhi.
“My coaches wanted me to train without any disturbances and at the time of their choice. We have a small range in Aligarh, where we start training at 6 am to avoid the crowd. The range is small, but It gives us the freedom to follow and execute our plans,” Mairaj said.
This is Mairaj’s second World Cup medal after winning silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The women’s 50m rifle three position team in the rifle event Anjum MoudgilAshi attentively, and Jharna Kaur Summer Won bronze.
India topped the medal tally with five gold, five silver and three bronze. Hosts Korea is second with a total of eight medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), while Serbia is third with three gold medals.