Tangier (Morocco), March 27 Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan shot a 69 on the first day of qualification at the Tangier Shooting Club, keeping her in contention for a finals berth in the women's skeet competition of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup.
Starting early on Friday morning in the inaugural leg of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Shotgun, Maheshwari shot a 21 in the first round but rebounded strongly, closing with two 24s to secure seventh place on the leaderboard.
The top eight will advance to the finals on Saturday, after two more rounds of qualification are played.
Teammates Darshna Rathore and Yashasvi Rathore shot scores of 64 each, placing them in 25th and 26th positions respectively, one ahead of reigning Olympic champion Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile, who also shot the same score.
Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece is currently leading the 41-strong field with 72 hits.
In the men's skeet, Parampal Singh Guron was the best Indian, with a score of 70 (25, 22, 23). Young Jyotiraditya Singh Sisodia shot a 67 (23, 22, 22), while Man Singh ended the day with a score of 64 (21, 21, 22). All three men will need to perform well on Saturday to make the top eight.