National shooting championships in Karachi early next year

KARACHI: National clay shooting championship and national air gun championship will be held in Karachi in January and February, respectively, next year.

These events are part of the decision National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) has taken to organise event-wise championships to give maximum opportunities to local players.

“The 2nd national clay shooting championship is to be held in Karachi from January 20-26,” said NRAP executive vice president Razi Ahmed Khan. “The 2nd air gun championship is scheduled in Karachi and Jhelum in February,” he added.

The first clay shooting championship was held in Jhelum. “This second championship is for both individuals and teams with no age limit from all over the country,” said Razi.

He added that those who performed well in this event would get chances to participate in world cups abroad. “We have decided to give maximum opportunities to players, so we eliminated the restrictions in individual category for air gun championship. This will increase the number of entries in this event,” Razi said.

He added that the NRAP had decided to organise event-wise championships after every six months.

He also said that six young Pakistani shooters would leave for Tehran on Friday (today) to take part in the 9th Asian Championship for 10m Rifle/Pistol, scheduled from December 3-9.

Fatima Aftab, Minhal Sohail and Zeeshan-ul-Farid will compete in 10m air rifle category, while Fatima Azim, Javeria Shafqat and Kaleemullah will participate in 10m air pistol category.

Javeria and Fatima are in youth category.

As many as 259 athletes from 12 nations are playing this championship. “The young shooters are being sent for getting international exposure. This is also part of preparations of Youth Olympics 2018,” said Razi.

He added that the good youth performers might get chances to appear in Islamic Games scheduled in May next year and 2020 Tokyo Olympics along with senior players.