Shooters featuring in events abroad do well at Parvez Abbasi C’ship

KARACHI: The shooters participating in different international events in the coming months gave satisfactory results in the recently concluded Parvez Abbasi Open Shooting Championship.

The championship served as a test of skills of the shooters who have been trained for months by National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) in Karachi and Jhelum. There are ten shooters who have been selected for Asian Games: G M Bashir and Khalil in Rapid Fire Pistol category; Usman Chand and Abdul Sattar Satti in Skeet-125 category; Farrukh Nadeem in Trap category and Amir Iqbal in Double Trap category; Minhal Suhail in Air Rifle category; Nadira Raees in Rifle 3-positions; and Zeeshan-ul-Farid and Ghufran Adil in Air Rifle and Rifle 3-positions categories.

The Asian Games are scheduled in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2. In the skeet-125 category of the Parvez Abbasi championship, Usman from Punjab won gold medal and Navy’s Abdul Sattar won silver medal.

“I am sure I will reach the finals,” said Abdul Sattar while talking to ‘The News’. “It’s the first time we are training hard in an extended camp of two months,” he added.

He added that he trains for four hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, five days a week. “I participated in an Asian championship in 2012 where I recorded my highest score. I am sure I will improve my score this time,” said Abdul Sattar.

Navy’s Bashir won gold medal in the Rapid Fire Pistol category. Khalil, however, failed to win a medal. Amir of Army won gold medal in Trap category but Farrukh Nadeem failed to lay his hand on a medal.

Minhal of Navy won gold medal in Air Rifle category and Nadira from Navy won three silver medals in Prone Rifle, Air Rifle, and Rifle 3-position categories. Ghufran won gold medals in Prone Rifle and Rifle 3-position categories and grabbed silver medal in the Air Rifle category. He was declared the best shooter of the tournament.

Zeeshan-ul-Farid failed to secure any medal in Air Rifle and Rifle 3-positions categories.Nubaira Babur of Navy, who has qualified for Youth Olympics, won silver medal in Air Pistol (junior) category.

Youth Olympics are to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from October 6-18.After the Asian Games, six shooters will participate in the 52nd ISSF World Championship in Changwon, South Korea, from August 31 to September 15. They are Usman, Khurram, Bashir, Farrukh, Minhal and Zeeshan-ul-Shakir. They seek to earn quotas for Tokyo 2020 by participating in this championship.

Khurrum Inam could not win any medal in the PA Open Shooting Championship but Zeeshan-ul-Shakir of Navy won two bronze medals in Air Rifle and Rifle 3-position categories.