Asian Games: Kishmala Talat wins bronze in shooting competition

Pakistani shooter Kishmala Talat Friday won a bronze medal during the ongoing Asian Games in China's Hangzhou city.

This was Pakistan's first-ever medal in the history of the mega sporting event's shooting competitions with the young shooter participating in the 10m Air Pistol event.

India, meanwhile, claimed both gold and silver with an incredible one-two finish by its shooters — 17-year-old Palak Gulia and 18-year-old Esha Singh.

Kishmala, who helped Pakistan win their first medal in the Asian Games 2023, had a total score of 218.2 whereas Palak and Esha notched up 242.1, which is an Asian Games record, and 239.7, respectively.

Expressing her views on the win, Talat said that she is "looking forward to the Olympics 2024".

"I hope I perform well and represent my country over there [Paris Olympics]," she said.

Earlier, Pakistan’s journey ended in the 10m air rifle shooting discipline after Ghufran Adil, Aqib Latif and Zeeshan Fareed failed to qualify in the top 8 for the next round.

Ghufran finished 31st with 622.7 points, Aaqib finished 44th with 616.7 and Zeehshan finished 53rd with 608.4 points.

Pakistan, as a whole, finished 14th with a total of 1874.8 points in the 10m air rifle competition.

In another shooting competition, Pakistan’s G.M. Bashir, who started well in the first round of the qualification phase and secured eighth position, was out of the top 4 race after only getting 13 points in the second round.

Pakistani female athletes cleared to travel to China

The Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has allowed two female athletes to travel to China.

After consultation with the Pakistan Sports Board, Sahib e Asra and Arooj Kiran have been given the green signal to participate in the event.

The two were previously barred from travelling to Hangzhou with the remaining players after the dope test results were not received.

Both the players will be available to participate in the athletics event today. Asra will compete in the 400m race while Kiran is in the 100m category.