Mairaj Ahmad Khan Wins Skeet Silver at Rio World Cup

Celebrates Best Day Ever as International Shooter with India’s First Ever Skeet Medal at a World Cup

New Delhi, April 25, 2016: India’s 40-year old Skeet Shooting ace, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, bagged the Silver medal in the last event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun), which concluded at Rio De Janeiro’s Olympic Shooting Centre in the Deodoro Park area of Brazil’s second most populous city, which will be host to the Summer Olympic games come August 2016. Mairaj lost to Sweden’s Marcus Svennson 2-1 in the shoot-off tiebreaker of the Men’s Skeet Gold medal match, after both were tied on 14 targets after the regulation 16 shots. Italy’s Tamarro Casandro won the Bronze. Earlier Mairaj had shot 122 out of 125 in qualifying to be second among the top six shooters who qualified for the finals stage. In the first competition semi-final stage both Mairaj and Marcus shot 15 out of 16 clay targets to earn the right to fight for the Gold medal. Juan Jose Aramburu of Spain and Casandro of Italy qualified for the Bronze medal match-up.

Overjoyed at the result, Mr. Raninder Singh, President, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said, “I salute Mairaj’s perseverance and commitment to the sport. This is an example for not only shooters, but all aspiring young athletes of this country on the trials and tribulations that an international sportsperson has to go through before achieving success, provided you get the right guidance and do not lose focus. I would also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our Skeet coach Ennio Falco, for the role he has played in turning what used to be our weakness at one point of time, into our strength. I wish Mairaj all the best for the upcoming Rio Olympics and as an administrator this result makes me all the more confident of a best ever showing by the Shooting team at the Olympics.”

This was by far Mairaj’s best ever showing since he started competing 13 years back. What is even more commendable about this performance by the man from the Ceramic city of Khurja in Uttar Pradesh is the fact that this was the first time ever in about 26 attempts that he had reached the finals stage of a World Cup. In the process, he also won India its first ever World Cup medal in Skeet. Last year, Mairaj had become the first Indian ever to bag an Olympic quota berth in Skeet shooting. The fact that he will come back in August to shoot at the same range for Olympic glory, will be an added boost, as also the fact that he got the better of the likes of Vincent Hancock in this competition, the USA’s double Olympic champion and considered the best ever Skeet shooter.

Earlier on day nine of the competition, Gurpreet Singh of India shot 289 in qualification to finish 14th in the Men’s 25M Rapid Fire Pistol event. Also on the last day, India’s rifle shooters Gagan Narang, Chain Singh and Sanjeev Rajput also could not make it to the finals of the Men’s 50M Rifle 3 Positions event.

Mairaj helped India win its only medal at the ISSF Rio World Cup which placed it 14th on the medal standings. A total of 23 out of the 88 countries participating in the 15 events won medals, in what was billed as an Olympic test event.