Pak Olympic contingent head leaves for Paris

LAHORE: Pakistan’s Paris Olympics contingent chef de mission Mohammad Shafiq on Tuesday left for Paris to attend the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) to be held on July 18.

Despite having a huge experience of acting as official at various major events this is the first time that Shafiq is acting as chef de mission at the Olympics.

“It’s a huge honour for me,” Shafiq told The News while on way to Paris.

“It’s not an easy job. We will do our best to facilitate the athletes as maximum as possible. I along with other contingent officials will also visit shooters who will be competing in a town far away from Paris,” Shafiq said.

Shafiq is also the secretary of Asian Handball Federation (AHF) and president of Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF). He is also the treasurer of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). Shafiq said that he expects medals from javelin thrower Arsbad Nadeem and shooters. “They are in good shape and will pull off their best inshaAllah,” Shafiq said. A senior official of the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) Javed Lodhi will be acting as deputy chef de mission during the Games in which seven national athletes will be showcasing their talent. They will be accompanied by 11 officials.

The three shooters including Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Joseph Gulfam and Kishmala Talat along with two officials will be leaving on July 19. Shooters will begin their journey on July 27 at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, the second largest town in the province of Berry. It is far away from Paris which will host the opening ceremony of the Games on July 26 and national shooters will not be attending the opening.

Female swimmer Jehanara Nabi, along with official, will leave from here on July 22. This correspondent learnt that Dubai-based swimmer Mohammad Ahmed Durrani will fly directly from the UAE on Monday. “Yes he will fly on Monday,” Durrani’s family sources confirmed.

Durrani has trained well for the event and is expected to pull off his personal best. Both swimmers will compete on July 28 in 200m freestyle heats at the Paris La Defense Arena. The athletics squad, including Arshad Nadeem and Faiqa Riaz, along with their official Salman Butt, will proceed to Paris on July 24. Arshad will compete in the javelin throw qualification phase on August 6 at the Stade de France, a venue which will host all athletics events.

The javelin finals will be held on August 8. Female sprinter Faiqa Riaz will compete in the 100m heats on August 2. Of the seven athletes who are set to feature in the Games, four athletes including three shooters and Arshad, have directly qualified while Ahmed Durrani, Jehanara Nabi and Faiqa Riaz will be competing on wild cards which is also called universality places. France-based eventer Usman Khan also had qualified initially but latter was dropped to reserves list and still could make it eventually but withdrew due to technical issues.