Pakistan shooters’ stay in Germany extended

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top shooters who have won quota places for Tokyo 2020 will stay in Germany for two more weeks due to the ban imposed by Pakistan on incoming international flights till April 4.

“I have talked to coach and athletes. They are in high spirits,” said Javaid Lodhi, executive vice-president of National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) while talking to ‘The News’. “I have asked them to apply for visa extension for Khalil and Joseph. Hopefully everything will be fine,” said Javaid.

The shooters in Germany are Khalil Akhtar, Ghulam Mustafa Bashir and Gulfam Joseph. Javaid said that they are monitoring this situation and the shooters can extend their stay in case the ban on international flights is extended by Pakistan.

He added that the cost of this one-month training was around Rs4.5 million, which was arranged by the association. According to the initial plan the shooters were to get one-month training in Suhl, Germany, and then they were to participate in the Olympic Games Test Event in Tokyo, Japan. And then they had to play two world cups in June in Germany and Azerbaijan before leaving for Olympics.

But the coronavirus has resulted in the cancellation of this event and the two world cups are also likely to get cancelled as Tokyo Olympics have been delayed for one year. “We will send them to the said world cups if they don’t get postponed or cancelled because they have learned a lot in this training,” said Javaid.

It is pertinent to mention here that the association did not get any financial support from the government for training of the shooters. “We are making all out efforts to win a medal for Pakistan in Olympics,” he said, adding that the shooters had achieved quota places without any support from the government.

Javaid said that the delay in Olympics will be converted into an opportunity for these shooters to prepare them far better for the Games. “Now, we will make a new plan for them because this training really helped them a lot. “I believe if they continue to get this kind of training they will surely win medals at Olympics,” said Javaid.