Lack of competition lets Navy dominate Shooting C’ship

KARACHI: The Parvez Abbasi Open Shooting Championship failed to serve its purpose at it did not attract any significant participation from across the country.

The competitive imbalance in the championship that concluded on Sunday let Navy secure the medals as they won the championship without any hurdle with 34 gold medals. Contrary to the claims of the organisers, the teams and shooters of Army, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and FATA did not come to take part in this event.

In the presence of only Sindh, KGSSR, Balochistan, and a few other weak teams, Navy’s domination was absolute. “This is a festival event and National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) had nothing to do with it,” said NRAP secretary Javed S Lodhi, when contacted.

He added that more than half events in this championship were festival events and only one or two Olympic events were held. “The organisers held this championship with the help of Pakistan Navy so they gathered people from different walks of life to make this memorial championship a success,” said Javed.

The NRAP secretary said that next year they would conduct this championship and make it a “national event. We will hold this championship year with all authorised events,” said Javed. The Championship has been launched to celebrate the life and achievements of Parvez Abbasi, the founding secretary of NRAP. He was one of the key drivers of the sport of shooting in Pakistan.