Pakistani shooter Joseph qualifies for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

ISLAMABAD: Shooter Gulfam Joseph has become the latest Pakistani shooter to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after Khalil Akhtar and Ghulam Mustafa Bashir.

“Joseph who is only 19 years old has qualified for the air pistol event of the Olympics. He had shown extraordinary talent by participating in the national senior category only a few months back,” Javed Lodhi, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP), told APP on Monday.

Previously, shooter Muhammad Khalil Akhtar qualified for the Olympics and will be representing Pakistan in the rapid-fire pistol event. Akhtar bagged a silver medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team event in the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong, India.

In 2018, he competed at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and finished sixth. He was the first Pakistani to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Ghulam Mustafa Bashir also qualified after winning the Olympic quota for Pakistan in the rapid fire pistol category. “NRAP is supporting and sponsoring the shooters who have been featuring in qualifiers without any support,” he said.

Lodhi said Bashir and Khalil were the same shooters who were denied visas to feature in the ISSF Shooting World Cup in India earlier this year.