Pak shooters begin Olympic journey today

LAHORE: Pakistani shooters will begin their Paris Olympics journey at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France on Saturday (today).

On the opening day, two national shooters will be seen in action. In the 10m air pistol qualification phase Joseph Gulfam will fight for ensuring his seat in the finals. There are 33 entries in this event and it will be a tough task for Joseph but the Pakistani shooter has the capacity to advance to the finals.

Top eight will make it to the final round. Meanwhile female shooter and the last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist Kishmala Talat will begin her medal quest in the 10m air pistol women’s event with its qualification phase also on Saturday (today). The phase carries 45 shooters.

Kishmala, a university student, is a smart shooter and she has the guts to excel at the biggest stage. National shooters also on Friday participated in the pre-event training. Ghulam Mustafa Bashir is the other Pakistani shooter featuring in the Olympics. In the global event, Pakistan have fielded seven athletes and they are accompanied by 11 officials.

The country’s premier javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, sprinter Faiqa Riaz, and swimmers Mohammad Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi are the others who will compete. Only the shooters and Arshad have directly qualified for the Olympics.

On Thursday Pakistan Embassy in France held a reception in honour of Pakistan’s contingent. IPC Minister Rana Sanaullah also attended the reception in Paris. The country’s premier eventer Usman Khan also attended the reception. He had been specifically invited to the reception by the Pakistan embassy in France. Usman, who withdrew from the Paris Olympics due to some technical issues, resides close to the site which is hosting Olympics.