Tangier (Morocco), March 31 Indian trap shooters Bhowneesh Mendiratta and Kynan Chenai had a successful opening day, shooting with precision and consistency to put themselves in contention for a place in the finals at the inaugural ISSF Shotgun World Cup here on Tuesday.
In a highly competitive field led by Nathan Hales of Great Britain – the Paris Olympics gold medallist and former world champion – both Bhowneesh and Kynan hit 72 targets to be in joint sixth place alongside seven others after three rounds of 25 shots each, totaling 75 clay targets.
The third Indian in the fray, Olympian Prithviraj Tondaiman, had a disappointing outing, managing 65/75 to be placed joint 62nd in the field.
Bhowneesh showed steady improvement across rounds, starting with a 23 in the opener, followed by a 24 and a perfect 25 in the next two, while Kynan displayed remarkable consistency with three rounds of 24 to total 72.
Two more rounds of 25 shots each, totaling 50, will be played on Wednesday, with the top eight scorers progressing to the finals.
Olympic champion Nathan Hales, whose former coach Peter Wilson is now India's foreign coach and is accompanying the team, led the field with a score of 74/75 after opening with a 24 and following it up with two perfect rounds of 25.
However, the women's trap contingent had a lean day, with Kirti Gupta, Aashima Ahlawat and Olympian Rajeshwari Kumari all returning identical scores of 65 after three rounds of 25, placing them joint 19th alongside several others in a field of 59.