Pak shooters rise in international rankings

KARACHI: Pakistani shooters have made their presence felt at international level as Ghulam Mustafa Bashir has become world number 11 in pistol category.

According to the international rankings for October released by International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), Pakistan Navy’s shooter Bashir achieved the 11th rank out of 88 in 25 meter rapid fire pistol category.

Khalil Akhtar achieved the 33rd spot in the same category.

Both the players performed well recently in 52nd ISSF World Championship in South Korea.

Bashir missed the qualification to the finals by a few points.

Two other players also achieved international ranking positions for the first time.

Zeeshan-ul-Farid is ranked 139th out of 208 in 10-metre air rifle category for men.

Minhal Sohail is ranked 166th out of 238 in the same category for women.

Bashir achieved a career-best score of 583 points and career-best seventh position in the world cup in Korea.

Khalil also achieved his career best score of 579 points in the world cup in South Korea.

Minhal achieved her career best score of 614.7 points in the world cup in rifle category.

Zeeshan too achieved his career best score of 614.2 points in the rifle category in the world cup.

An official of National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) told ‘The News’ that they would continue sending shooters to international events to earn quota places for Tokyo 2020. “It’s a big achievement that our shooters have secured good international rankings. I hope they will soon win entry to the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on the basis of their performance,” he added.

Asian Shooting Confederation (ASC) has also released its rankings for October.

Bashir improved his ranking from 13 to 6 in 25-metre rapid fire pistol category.

Khalil improved his ranking from 19 to 12 in the same category.

In 10-metre air rifle category for women, Minhal improved her ranking from 102 to 74.

In 50-metre 3-position rifle category for men, Ghufran Adil retained his 24th position.

In skeet category, Usman Chand retained his 7th position.

In 10-metre air rifle category for men, Zeeshan improved his ranking from 78 to 64 but Ghufran fell from 67 to 85.

Nadira Raees is ranked 62nd in 50 metre 3-position rifle category for women. Her previous ranking was 56.