Usman achieves minimum qualification score for Tokyo 2020

KARACHI: Pakistan’s talented shooter Usman Chand achieved Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) for Tokyo Olympics 2020 at the 6th Asian Shotgun Championship which concluded on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Usman scored 115 in the Skeet event to become the first Pakistani shooter to achieve MQS for Tokyo 2020. Seasoned shooter Khurrum Inam failed to achieve MQS as he scored only 113.

“I scored 24, 24, 23 in the first qualifying round and 20 and 24 in the second round,” said Usman while talking to ‘The News’.

He said he was happy to pull off MQS as it would ease pressure on him in the next events before the Olympics. “The reason behind this low score was that I could not carry my weapon with me,” said Usman.

He explained that his agent could not take permission from the airline to carry the weapon. “He did not fill up one of the required forms. I did not want to go from Lahore due to my bad experience with Customs there in the past, so I opted for Karachi airport but I encountered a problem here too,” said Usman.

The shooter from Sialkot added that he did not want to skip the event so he went there and played with a weapon borrowed from the organisers. “I am happy that I achieved MQS even without my own weapon,” said Usman.

To a ­question why he changed his position, Usman said he earned this MQS only because of his new position. “This was the second event I played with my new position/technique. The first was the national shooting championship held in Karachi in May,” said Usman. 

He said he liked his new technique which was very strong as he did not face any issue during both the events. “I had to play on five different ranges in this UAE championship in two days and I managed it only through my new technique,” said Usman.  He said he would now be in action next year.