Pakistan shooters complete training, to leave for Paris on 19th

KARACHI: Pakistan’s three Olympic-bound shooters have completed their training and will be leaving for Paris Olympics on the 19th.

G M Bashir, Gulfam Joseph, and Kishmala Talat got trained by Russia’s world class coach Gemnadi first in Karachi, with the support of Kuwait Shooting Federation, and then in Lahore. All three shooters will compete in five events from July 26 to August 5 at the Chateauroux Shooting Range in Paris. This prestigious event will feature a total of 342 athletes from 82 National Olympic Committees, competing for 45 medals (15 Gold, 15 Silver, and 15 Bronze) in 15 events.

The camp in Karachi was part of Asian Shooting Confederation’s development project in which five Pakistani, one Napali, and one Kuwaiti shooters got training. The Russian coach had participated in the 1992 Olympics and was part of Russian team in various events.

Secretary National Rifle Association of Pakistan Razi Ahmed Khan while talking to ‘The News’ said that Kishmala will feature in the individual category of 10m Air Pistol event in Paris Olympics as she won a quota place for that event.

“She will also feature in the mixed category with Gulfam Joseph of the said event while she has been allowed by IOC to feature in 25m Sports Pistol event as well,” said Razi, adding that Gulfam Joseph and Ghulam Mustafa Bashir will participate in 10m Air Pistol and Rapid Fire Pistol events, respectively.

“Gulfam does not play any other event besides 10 Air Pistol so he will not get to play any other inter-related event at Olympics. G M Bashir also plays Center Fire Pistol event but that is not Olympic event so he too will play only RFP at Paris 2024,” reasoned Razi.

Meanwhile, G M Bashir told ‘The News’ that he learned a lot from the Russian coach during the camp at PN Shooting Ranges in Karachi. “I have learned different new things and am quite sure that they will help me,” said Bashir, adding that he played only one event last year and that was a World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan where he could not perform well.

“I was not comfortable with the environment at the venue, I mean the environment in which the completion was held. It affected my performance,” said Bashir. According to the schedule, the qualification and final events (for both men and women) of 10m Air Pistol will be held on July 27-28 and the mixed team events will be held on July 29-30. The qualification and finals of 25m Pistol event will be held on August 2-3 and the events for 25m Rapid Fire Pistol will be held on August 4-5.