Bhavtegh Begins Campaign in Style at ISSF World Championship

Bhavtegh Singh Gill shot a perfect 50 in the opening day of the men’s skeet qualification at the ISSF World Championship 2025 in Athens, Greece. He shares the lead with several world-class shooters, setting up a thrilling competition ahead

Hyderabad: India’s Bhavtegh Singh Gill, a two-time Junior World Championship medallist, made an impeccable start to his campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship Shotgun 2025 in Athens, Greece. On the opening day of the men’s skeet qualification at the Malakasa Shooting Range, Bhavtegh hit all 50 targets, marking a perfect round.

This flawless performance placed him alongside some of the sport’s elite, including four-time Olympic champion and three-time World Champion Vincent Hancock of the United States, 2000 Olympic gold medallist Mikola Milchev of Ukraine, ISSF World Cup medallist Henrik Jansson of Sweden, Kacper Jerzyall Baksalary (Poland), and Emil Kjeldgaard (Denmark). All of them registered perfect 50s, sharing the top of the leaderboard after Day 1.

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Among the other Indian shooters, Olympian and reigning Asian Champion Anantjeet Singh Naruka shot 48 (24, 24) to sit in 35th place, while two-time Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan, with 45 (24, 21), finished the day in 97th place in the highly competitive 116-athlete field.

In the women’s skeet event, Olympian Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal shot scores of 45 (23, 22) and 44 (21, 23), respectively, landing them in 37th and 38th positions. Ganemat Sekhon is placed 45th with 43 (21, 22) hits after the opening two rounds.

Leading the women’s event, former Asian champion Jinmei Gao of China, Anastasia Eleftheriou of Cyprus, Aislin Jones of Australia, World No. 1 Samantha Simonton of the USA, and Canada’s Madeliene Lieselotte Boyd all share the lead with 49 hits each.

The qualification rounds continue on Saturday with two more rounds of 25 targets each. The rounds will conclude on Sunday with one final round of 25 targets. The top six shooters from both the men’s and women’s categories will advance to the finals, which are scheduled for 5:30 pm IST (women’s) and 7:00 pm IST (men’s) on Sunday, October 12, 2025, when the new World Champions will be crowned.