Shooting is a popular sport in the world and has been part of modern Olympic Games since its debut at Athens in 1896. A supreme test of accuracy and concentration American, Russian, Swedish, Bulgarian and Norwegian shooters dominated the recently-concluded shooting competitions at Rio Olympics 2016 where nine men and six women events were held in air rifle, pistol and shot gun trap and skeet competitions.

Pakistan’s Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, a 29-year-old Navy Marine, and Minhal Sohail, a university student, got wildcard entries to represent Pakistan at Rio Olympics.

Bashir was ranked 16th in Shooting World Cup at Gabala and Minhal was 28th among 51 shooters. They were trained at PNS Karsaz due to shortage of facilities and funds with the National Rifle Association of Pakistan.

The fate was obvious: both Pakistani shooters couldn’t qualify for the final round and were eliminated due to low scores.

While our shooters and other sportsmen struggle to perform at the international level due to lack of patronage by the government-controlled sport bodies, some individuals backed by passionate enthusiasts keep the candle of sports burning in such wretched circumstances.

One such Sport enthusiast is Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio, a land lord and MPA from Qambar Shahdadkot, who organises a long range shooting festival every year in December at Qambar Shahdadkot Shooting Range in memory of his father, Nawab Shabbir Ahmad Khan Chandio.

The competition has been organised regularly for last six years and shooters from all over the country, including international shooters, participate in this unique 600 yard firing competition every year.

The top ten shooters qualify for the 950 yard competition to win prizes, said Amjad Waheed Qureshi, a long range shooter who aims to promote rifle shooting in Pakistan.  According to him Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio is a trend setter of long range shooting in Pakistan and his efforts to popularise this sport are matchless.

Long distance rifle shooting is an extremely interesting sport that requires high standards of physical and mental fitness and enormous concentration and practice to achieve results.

Amjad said that specialised long range shooting rifles like Dolphin, Steyr, Range Master, Accuracy International, Sauer and Johan Pierce Rifles are used in these competitions.

POF Wah took an initiative to organise 600m and 800m Long Range Shooting Competition during the last three years.

Colonel (Retd) Javed Omar, who is Advisor on Small Arms & Ammunition at POF Wah, is highly appreciated for promoting this sport.

It was their effort that international rifle manufacturers like CZ Rifles from Czechoslovakia and Beretta from Italy sponsored these competitions.

It is worth mentioning that POF Wah has done a great service to promote the sport by introducing  match grade ammunition at a very low cost, Rs250 per round as compared to Rs2000 for an internationally acquired round.

Similar competitions have been organised at Barchundi Shareef in Daharki district and by Rangers Karachi for the last couple of years.

A major breakthrough came recently when President Mamnoon Husain inaugurated the First Baluchistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah Open Shooting Competition in Quetta on August 5.

Around 700 shooters from across the country gathered in Quetta to participate in the eight-day firing competition.

Chief Minister Baluchistan Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri was the Chief Guest on the final day, who gave hefty prizes to the winners.

The Chief Minister said at the closing ceremony that rifle shooting is a sport of lion-hearted people. "These are our traditional competitions," he said.

The CM further said that promotion of such sports would help identify the talent that can be refined to become professional shooters for participating in international shooting competitions.

Amjad while disclosing the details of the shooting competitions said that highly educated people participate in such competitions. "But we desire that this sport become popular among masses and in order to achieve this aim the government must support such initiatives by facilitating import of competition grade rifles and its accessories. It is likely that talented shooters from Pakistan can participate in F-Class & FTR Class competitions all around the globe," he said.

He emphasised the corporate patronage of shooting sports in Pakistan. While giving the example of shooting patronage in India, Amjad said that India has adopted "One Shooter One Organisation" strategy under which one shooter is adopted by one major corporate entity.

If the corporate sector in Pakistan starts supporting this sport there is no reason why Pakistan can’t achieve glory in the world of modern sports.