Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta narrowly missed out on a spot in the trap team for the World Championship and the Asian Games, in the shotgun team announced by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) here on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Bhowneesh had won the Olympic quota by finishing fourth in the World Championship in Osijek, Croatia, last year.
The selection was based purely on the best of three scores of the four selection trials, and did not take into consideration the international performances.
Prithviraj Tondaiman who had won the bronze medal in one of the World Cups this season topped men’s trap with a cumulative score of six points. In fact, it was new formula that was used to screen the performances with everyone being gauged on the basis of the best score in a match, with points added for final placings.
Olympian Kynan Chenai and Zoravar Singh Sandhu took the second and third spots in the team with scores of two each. Bhowneesh had zero point, and so was the case with former World Champion and six-time Asian champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
Asian Games silver medallist Lakshay Sheoran returned a score of -1 (minus 1) as he placed sixth in the merit list.
In men’s skeet, World Cup gold medallist Mairaj Ahmad Khan slipped out with a cumulative score of (-10). The 47-year-old Olympian, Mairaj had not only won the individual gold in a World Cup last year, but also won a mixed gold medal in a World Cup this season with Ganemat Sekhon.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Olympian Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Gurjoat Singh Khangura made the cut with scores of 14, (-3) and (-5) respectively.
In women’s trap, Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak and Rajeshwari Kumari made it with identical scores of 5. Sabeera Haris (-5), Pragati Dubey (-6), Olympian Shagun Chowdhary (-7) and Shreyasi Singh (-8) missed out.
In women’s skeet, Ganemat Sekhon made it with a positive score of 14, while Prinaaz Dhaliwal and Darshna Rathore made it with (-7).
The rifle and pistol teams will be selected after the ongoing trials in the capital.
The World Championships offers four Olympic quota places in each of the 12 events of pistol, rifle and shotgun.
The teams: Trap: Prithviraj Tondaiman, Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu; Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak, Rajeshwari Kumari.
Skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Gurjoat Khangura; Ganemat Sekhon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Darshna Rathore.
