New Delhi, May 8 (IANS): Indian skeet shooters had a tough day one of qualifications at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Baku, with Anant Jeet Singh Naruka in the men’s event, returning as the best Indian on the show with a three-round total of 72 giving him 20th spot in the standings currently.

In women’s skeet, all three Indians finished with identical scores of 69 to be in 13th, 15th and 19th spots respectively. Ganemat (25,22,22) began with a perfect 25 even as Raiza (22,22,25) ended with one while Maheshwari (22,23,24) could not get to it eventually, as the trio finished at least a couple of hits less than what they would have liked, going into the final day.

Georgia’s Elizaveta Boiarshinova leads the field with a 73 on the opening day and nothing less than two perfect rounds will get them into the top six, one gets the feeling.

The three women are also in an intense battle to pick up crucial ranking points ahead of the Paris Olympics cut-off date, to not only grab one of the two available spots in the event but also to ensure an additional start as the mixed team skeet makes its Olympics debut.

Among the men, Sheeraz Sheikh shot 67, while Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot 63 to be way down the pecking order.

Paris quota winner Anant Jeet Singh Naruka however, overcame an opening round 22 to return with two perfect rounds of 25 each to finish just three off the leader and will take a shot at the top six on Thursday.