Indian skeet shooters had a mixed start on the first day of qualification at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Shotgun Stage 3 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Abhay Singh Sekhon delivered the best performance among the six Indian participants in the men’s event, ending the day in 14th position with a score of 49 hits (25, 24) out of 50 targets.

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Eight shooters in the 92-strong men’s field recorded perfect rounds of 25 each. Abhay was part of a chasing group of 13 shooters who missed just one target.

Olympian and veteran Mairaj Khan also remained in contention, missing one target in each round to finish the day in 32nd place.

The third Indian in the men’s skeet, Rituraj Bundela, scored 44 (23, 21) and was further down the leaderboard with six misses.

In the women’s competition, Parinaaz Dhaliwal (23, 24) was placed 15th, Yashasvi Rathore (21, 23) was 36th, and Paris Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan (22, 22) stood in 38th position after two rounds.

Two of the five qualification rounds were completed on Monday across both men’s and women’s skeet events.

Two more rounds are scheduled for Tuesday, with the fifth and final round on Wednesday (May 7, 2025), before the top six shooters advance to the finals.