Pak shooters improve performance at Asian Shotgun Championships

KARACHI: Pakistani shooters performed satisfactorily at the 8th Asian Shotgun Championships that concluded in Kuwait on Sunday.

In the qualification round of double trap event’s individual category on the last day of the competition, Aamer Iqbal scored 126 points (26, 28, 24, 26, 22) to secure the eighth position. He missed qualification for the finals by a few points.

In Trap event, Aamer had stood 21st out of 35 athletes with the score of 111 points (23, 21, 21, 22, 24). Aamer’s Initial Qualifying Score (IQS) in Trap event was 115 points.

In Skeet event’s individual category, Pakistan’s top shooter Usman Chand also missed the qualification for the finals by a few points. He secured the eighth position. He scored 119+5 points (22, 25, 24, 25, 23). His IQS was 122 points.

Seasoned shooter Khurrum Inam from Sindh scored 108 points (24, 21, 21, 20, 22) to claim the 27th position out of 39 players.  In Skeet event for women (junior) category, Shahnoor Iqbal stood last (fifth) with the score of 101 points (23, 20, 20, 19, 19) in the qualification round. She scored 15 points in the semi-final stage.

Zafar ul Haq secured 30th position out of 35 players with 101 points (20, 24, 17, 20, 20) in the individual category of Trap event.Farrukh Nadeem withdrew his name from the championship.

It is pertinent to mention here that this Asian championship did not have quota places for Olympics 2020. “National Rifle Association of Pakistan sponsored only Usman. The others were either self-sponsored or sponsored by their organisations,” said an official of NRAP.

He said the reason behind sending them to this Asian championship was that they would have international exposure and would improve their international rankings. “One quota place for Olympics is given on the basis of international rankings. So, any of our players in the top rankings might get that quota place,” reasoned the official.

Usman told ‘The News’ that he was quite unfortunate for not qualifying for the finals. “I missed it once again. But I am sure that my improved performance will help me better my rankings,” said Usman, who is Asian number seven in skeet category. He added that he is ready to participate in more than ten international events next year to win a quota place for Olympics 2020. “My dream is to represent my country at Olympics and win a medal. I am hopeful that I will fulfill my dream this time,” said Usman.