NRAP satisfiedwith shooters’ performance at SAG

KARACHI: National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) is satisfied with the results of shooters in the recently-concluded South Asian Games held in Nepal. “We produced the results in the Games as per our promise with Pakistan Olympic Association and Pakistan Sports Board,” said NRAP Secretary General Razi Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Thursday.

“Pakistan won two gold medals besides silver and bronze medals in shooting, and only India and Pakistan could win gold medals in shooting out of the seven participating nations. “Some of the issues hampered our performance like we reached late and did not get proper time for the pre-event training while India were there two weeks before the Games started.

“And the condition of the shooting range was not good which also created issues for our athletes,” added Razi. He said that due to the poor condition of the range Khalil Akhtar, who won a quota place in Brazil for the Tokyo Olympics, could not win any medal in the Rapid Fire Pistol event in Nepal. “He managed to win silver medal in the Centre Fire Pistol event,” he said.

Pakistan won two silver and four bronze medals in the individual category of the shooting event at the SAG. The country claimed two gold, three silver and three bronze medals in the team category, taking their total tally to 14 medals.

India, on the other hand, managed to win 29 medals in shooting. “We don’t get support from the government, yet we give better results as compared to other sports of the country in major events,” said Razi.

He informed that the NRAP has requested world-class coaches for their time to train Pakistan’s Tokyo-bound shooters. “We are awaiting their response in this regard,” he added.

“The NRAP cannot afford very expensive training for the shooters by inviting foreign coaches to Pakistan, so we have decided to send the shooters to Germany for training before the Olympics,” he concluded.