KARACHI: Triple Olympian Khurram Inam will lead Pakistan squad in the 13th edition of the Asian Shooting Championship being staged in Kuwait City from Nov 1 to 12, the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) announced on Wednesday.

The 20-member squad includes 13 men, three women, one junior shooter and three officials. The squad will start leaving for Kuwait on Oct 31 in batches.

“We have selected the best shooters on the basis of their track record and performance in the training camp,” NRAP executive vice-president Razi Ahmed Khan said while announcing the squad.

Khurram Pakistan’s legendary skeet shooters have the unique distinction of representing Pakistan in three Olympics — 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2012 London -- besides being a record of South Asian Shooting Championship.

The continental event will also serve as the quota distribution for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“Our aim is to secure some direct entries into [Rio] Olympics. Though it’s a big challenge but our shooters are fully prepared to achieve something special,” Razi remarked.

“In the presence of top shooters from China, India, Korea, Japan, gulf region and other countries, our shooters will have to produce their best to achieve their goal.

“In a precision sport like shooting, shooters must get their act together to reach excellence,” he stated.

The Pakistan shooters will be taking part in different events — rifle, pistol and shotgun — at the Asian championship.

Squad:

Men: Khurram Inam, Usman Chand (skeet)Zafar-ul-Haq, Maj. Farrukh, Col. Fakhar-uz-Zaman, Shakeel Ilyas, Usman Sadiq (trap)

GM Bashir, Uzair Ahmed, Bilal Ahmed (pistol) Zeeshan-ul-Haq, Mohammad Ghufran, Mohammad Shahid (rifle)

Women: Minhal Sohail, Mehak Fatima (rifle), Tazeen Abbasi (pistol)

Youth: Haris Barlas.

Officials: Javed Lodhi, Abdullah Iraqi (managers); Vladimir Kovelneko (coach).

Published in Dawn October 29th, 2015

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