Paris Olympian Raiza Dhillon creates one and equals another national record, enroute Skeet finals at 67th Shooting Nationals
Ranvir Singh
New Delhi : Paris Olympian Raiza Dhillon of Haryana, made both the women’s Skeet finals of the on-going 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) for Shotgun events at New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range (DKSSR), creating one new national record and equalling another enroute. Raiza’s score of 122, which helped her top both the junior women’s and women’s qualification round, was two better than Simranpreet Kaur Johal’s junior record of 120 achieved in the 2018 Jaipur Nationals and equal to Ganemat Sekhon’s effort at the recently held ISSF World Cup Final in Delhi.
Ganemat in-fact followed Raiza into the six-woman final in second spot with a tally of 118 hits over five rounds and two days of qualification. Madhya Pradesh’s Vanshika Tiwari and Rajasthan’s Yashasvi Rathore were among those who made both the junior and senior women’s finals.
Also shattering the junior men’s Skeet qualification national record on the day was Telangana’s Munek Battula, whose score of 123 was one better than Abhay Singh Sekhon’s 122 in Delhi in 2019.
Blockbuster men’s Skeet final on the cards
In the men’s Skeet qualification, Punjab’s Fatehbir Singh Shergill topped the field with a solid 123 over five rounds. The talented Munek Battula also shot the same score but settled for bib number 2 as he went down in a shoot-off to Fatehbir. Also into the final were two Olympians and among India’s best known Skeet shooters, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa.
Mairaj, the senior pro, shot 121, the same as Angad, to fifth spot after winning the shoot-off for bib numbers with his former India teammate. Both the experienced campaigners accounted for Paris Olympian Anant jeet Singh Naruka, who fell short finishing seventh with a score of 119.
Munek Battula also topped the field in the junior men’s Skeet and will also play two finals on Tuesday, as will Bhavtegh Singh Gill of Punjab.
Punjab also won three of the four golds in the team competitions, with Ganemat Sekhon winning as part of their women’s team and Bhavtegh Gill and Harmehar Lally winning in both the junior and men’s team categories.