Parvez Abbasi Shooting Championship from August 7-12

KARACHI: More than 400 shooters from across the country will participate in the 2nd Parvez Abbasi Shooting Championship to be held here from August 7-12.

The venue of the championship will be Pakistan Navy Shooting Range, Karsaz. “There will be up to Rs5 million cash prizes for the participants,” said Tournament Director Ghazanfar Abbas while addressing a press conference at a hotel on Thursday.

He added that the organisers had increased the number of days from three to five on the request of the athletes. Also, he added, the organisers had introduced for the first time rifle shooting 300 metre event. Four youth and junior events would also be held, he said.

“A total of 27 shooting events will be played in this championship. This event will provide additional training to the athletes participating in the Asian Games,” said Ghazanfar.Moreover, he added, festival events would be held for shooting enthusiasts. “This championship is held in the memory of Abbasi whose contribution to shooting helped Pakistan qualify for international events, including Olympics 2000,” said the tournament director.

Abbasi was Secretary General of National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) and held the national record in Rapid Fire Pistol category for 30 years.“He was a jury member for shooting event at Olympics 2004. This event is an important addition to our shooting calendar. It will provide chances to budding shooters to hone their skills,” said Ghazanfar.

Technical delegate Razi Ahmed said International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) rules would be applied at this championship. “We also want to prepare our athletes for Asian Games through this championship,” said Razi, adding that in the next two years Pakistan’s shooters would participate in international events to earn quota places for Tokyo 2020. He said shooters outnumbered Pakistan’s other athletes at the Olympics. It is pertinent to mention here that the championship will be open to public.