Trap shooter Bhavneesh finished fifth in Shotgun World Cup

Paris Olympics quota place, Indian shooter Bhavnish Mendiratta faced a tough fight in the final of the trap event to finish fifth in the ISSF Shotgun World Cup here on Saturday. The 23-year-old Bhavneesh, who hails from Faridabad, shot 73 out of 75 in the first three rounds of qualification on Friday to share the lead with four other shooters. He shot similar scores of 24 in the next two rounds on Saturday. Bhavneesh thus shot 121 out of 125 in two days to finish joint fourth to make it to the six-man final.

However, the Indian shooter did not fare well in the finals. He became the second player to be eliminated after scoring 24 out of 30 points. Italian marksman and two-time world champion Fabrizzi Massimo won the gold medal by defeating 27-year-old world champion James Willett of Australia. Kuwaiti shooter Khalid Almudhaf won the bronze medal. Two other Indian shooters Zorawar Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Todaimal shot identical scores of 117 to finish 16th and 17th respectively. In women’s trap, Shreyasi Singh finished 10th with a score of 114, Manisha Keer 19th with 109 and Preeti Rajak 32nd with 98.

India has so far won one silver and one bronze medal in this competition. She won both these medals in the women’s skeet. Meanwhile, India’s foreign trap coach and Olympic champion Russell Mark has resigned due to contractual issues. Sources close to Australian shooter Mark, who won the gold medal in double trap at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said that May 28 will be his last day with the Indian team.

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