Bhowneesh Mendiratta wins Olympics quota in Croatia

The 23-year-old finished fourth in the Men's Trap event of the ongoing Shotgun World Championships.

Bhowneesh Mendiratta, the 23-year-old shooter from Faridabad, has secured India its first quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Men's Trap event. Bhowneesh Mendiratta scored 121 out of the possible 125 points in the five sets of the qualifications round of the Shotgun World Championships. After the qualifying round, the top eight were split into two groups of four shooters for the ranking round. The top two from each group were to qualify for the medal round and achieve the Olympic quota.

Bhowneesh hit 24 out of the 25 targets and stood first out of the four shooters from his ranking round. With this, he sealed India's berth in the event at Paris Olympics. He showed good composure till the end as it is never easy shooting 24 of the 25 targets. India has always been a strong unit in pistol and rifle events but this time it is shotgun that has secured India its first quota.

In the medal round, the Indian finished fourth, missing out on bronze by a slight margin after the first 15 shots. He missed a shot in the first set of five shots. His second set was, however, a lot better with the 23-year-old finding all the targets. The third and ultimately the decider set saw him miss a target one more time, thus ending his hopes of a medal.

Earlier, Bhowneesh Mendiratta finished fourth in the qualifying round of Men's trap scoring 121 overall out of 125 points on offer. The pattern of the first five series was 25, 23, 24, 24 and 25. Looking at the previous events Indians generally falter in the fourth and the fifth rounds, but the Indian held his nerve and score a terrific 24 and 25 to clinch the fourth spot.

Tondaiman Prithviraj scored 119 and finished 22nd. He had a good outing in the previous World Cup in Korea but failed to live up to the expectations here. Vivaan Kapoor scored a paltry 107 and finished 119 in the qualifying round. In the World Championships, anything above 121 is considered a good score which needs precision, accuracy and stamina over the course of three days.

Many Olympics and World Championships medallists are taking part in the first Paris Olympics Qualifying event and the Indians have put up a good show.

The women's trap team though did not have a good outing - with all three shooters finishing outside the top eight in the qualifying rounds. Neeru Neru was the highest ranked Indian scoring 111, whereas Shreyanshi scored 110, and Manisha Keer finished with 102 points.