Gurpreet, Mairaj bow out in tight finish

Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Gurpreet Singh fought their hearts out but stumbled by narrow margins as a final spot eluded the Indians at the Olympic Shooting Range on Saturday.

Mairaj shot superbly in the qualification stage of men’s skeet event over two days.

With the top six shooters entering the final, Mairaj was tied with four others in the sixth spot with a score of 121 out of 125. However, he missed the mark in a shoot-off to bow out of contention, eventually ending ninth.

Gurpreet, competing in rapid fire pistol, finished an agonising seventh in the qualifying round. Unlike other pistol events, where eight shooters make the final, only six qualify in rapid fire.

The 40-year-old Mairaj, from Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh, had won India’s first World Cup medal in skeet, a silver, at the same range in April.

Over two days of qualifying, he shot a series of 24, 25, 23, 25 and 24 to come close to the medal round, only to falter at the crunch.

Abdullah Al Rashidi of Kuwait, competing under the International Olympic Committee banner, topped the qualification stage with a 123.

Gurpreet had shot 289 in the first stage of rapid fire qualifying on Friday. On Saturday, he scored 292 for a total of 581, missing the final by two points. A 90 in the third series in the first stage probably ruined his chances.

Christian Reitz of Germany won the gold defeating Jean Quiquampoix of France convincingly in the final. Reitz shot a 34 while Quiquoampoix took the silver at 30. Li Yuehong of China won the bronze at 27.

Reitz had won the bronze medal at Beijing in 2008 and his success brought Germany their fifth gold medal in this event.

Result: Men 25M rapid fire pistol: Chrstian Reitz (Germany) 34, 1; Jean Quiquampoix (France) 30, 2; Li Yuhong (China) 27, 3.