Mairaj Ahmad Khan won Asian Games 2026 bronze in men’s team skeet. Before his 23-year shooting career, Khan was a promising cricketer who once opened with Virender Sehwag. He later switched to shooting and became a celebrated Olympian for India.
The veteran Indian skeet shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan clinched the bronze medal in the men’s team event alongside Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Bhavtegh Singh Gill at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, September 23.
After missing out on an opportunity to win an individual medal, Mairaj’s steady composure and contribution of 116 points played an instrumental role in helping the Indian trio edge out Kazakhstan in a tense shoot-off to secure a third-place finish and a valuable addition to India’s shooting medal tally.
Mairaj Ahmad Khan won his first Asian Games medal in his 23-year international shooting career, adding a proud milestone to his legacy by helping India triumph over Kazakhstan in a high-stakes shoot-off to claim the men’s team skeet bronze.
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Virender Sehwag’s, Opening Partner Before Finding Success in Shooting
Mairaj Ahmad Khan might be a well-known Indian shooter who has won multiple medals and represented the country at the highest level, but before making a name for himself in shooting, he had a promising cricketing career.
Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, he captained the UP U-16 side, played in prestigious domestic tournaments like the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and C.K. Nayudu Trophy. While studying at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, Mairaj Ahmad Khan famously walked out to bat alongside Virender Sehwag, who would go on to become one of India’s greatest batters.
Mairaj and Sehwag played together in inter-university matches for Jamia Millia Islamia, and in one such match, the duo opened the batting against Punjab, where the Indian batting star scored 78 while Mairaj held his ground at the other end, scoring 19 runs, laying the foundation for a memorable victory before their sporting paths dramatically diverged.
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Recalling his association with Virender Sehwag, Mairaj Ahmad Khan stated that his former opening batting partner played only one match for their university side before fast-tracking into higher-level domestic and international cricket.
As a Jamia Millia Islamia alumnus went in a different direction to build a legendary 23-year career with a shotgun, his old opening partner forged a path to batting greatness, making this unlikely cricketing footnote one of the most remarkable trivia pieces in Indian sports history.
Why Did Mairaj Ahmad Khan Pick Up Shooting?
Mairaj Ahmad Khan traded his batting talent for a shotgun, paving a path for his legendary career in shooting after turning to the sport in his mid-20s. Earlier, Mairaj realised that wearing an Indian cricket jersey would be incredibly difficult.
Unlike his former opening partner, Virender Sehwag, who was already rocketing toward international stardom, Mairaj switched to the sport he had grown up around through his family. Hailing from an affluent background in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, shooting was a familiar fixture in his household, as his father, brother, and uncles were all state-level shooters.
It was in 1999 that Mairaj seriously took up shooting and made it his full-time pursuit, eventually transforming from trap to master the skeet discipline after a pivotal breakthrough win in Chennai. In 2003, the Indian skeet shooter made his international debut at a World Cup in Lonato, Italy.
In his illustrious 23-year international career, Mairaj Ahmad Khan clinched three golds, a silver, and a bronze at the World Cup, a gold, three bronzes, and two silvers at the Asian Shooting Championships; a gold and a silver at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships, and two silvers at the South Asian Championships. Now, he added an Asian Games bronze medal to his decorated cabinet.
Mairaj Ahmad Khan also featured at the 2016 and 2021 Rio and Tokyo Olympics, respectively, cementing his legacy as a pioneer of Indian skeet shooting before scripting this latest chapter at the Asian Games.
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