Strong Pakistan outfit to feature in Asian Shooting C’ships

ISLAMABAD, Sep 26 (APP):A strong Pakistan shooting outfit will be looking to secure berths in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic by finishing at top in the 14th Asian Shooting Championships, taking place in Doha, Qatar from November 3 to 14.

“Our team will be comprised of country’s top shooters, including Mohammad Khalil Akhtar, G.M Bashir, Khalil Akhtar, Usman Chand, Farrukh Nadeem, Gulfam and Khurram Inam,” Javaid Lodhi, executive vice president of National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) told APP on Thursday.

He said Khalil Akhtar had already qualified for the prestigious event as he put up a splendid show in the just-held World Shooting Cup in Brazil, finishing sixth in the Rapid Fire Pistol event.
The event served as the qualifier for the Olympics. The 35-year-old from Pakistan Army edged passed World No. 1, World No. 4 and World No. 5 at the World Shooting Cup.

“The Asian Championships also serve as Olympic qualifiers. We expect our other shooters to also earn spots for the quadrennial event by emerging victorious in their respective categories in the Championships,” Lodhi added.

According to Lodhi G.M Bashir will compete in rapid fire, Chand and Inam in skeet, Farrukh Nadeem in trap and Gulfam in 10m air pistol.

With the exceptions of the St Louis 1904 and Amsterdam 1928 Games, Shooting has featured on every Olympic programme since the first modern Games in 1896.

At 2020 Tokyo Olympics contests will be held in 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Men/Women), 10m Air Rifle (Men/Women), 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (Men), 25m Pistol (Women), 10m Air Pistol (Men/Women), Trap (Men/Women), Skeet (Men/Women), 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team, 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team and Trap Mixed Team.

At Olympics, Khalil will compete in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, which is an event involving successive rapid fire in the standing position over short periods of eight, six and four seconds. No automatic function is used and all shots require the trigger to be pulled manually.