KARACHI: Shooter Khurrum Inam, who has been selected to represent the country at the Olympics 2012 after two sets of trials, failed to have an average of 114 in the final three-day trials, which is the Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) according to the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
Though this will not have any effect on his selection for the Olympics, it shows that all is not well with the country’s skeet shooting talent.
Khurrum’s final score was 340, out of 375, which led to his selection to represent Pakistan for the third time in skeet shooting sport.
The country has been given wildcard for the skeet shooting event by the ISSF.
Khurrum scored 117 on the second day, his highest score. On the first day, his score was 110 and 113 was his score on the final day. His average score thus stood at 113.33. His competitor Ahmed Sultan scored 330 with the average score of 110. This show from the country’s top two skeets was not better than their performance in the five-day trials held in May, after which the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) felt it necessary to hold fresh three-day trials.
Those trials were topped by Ahmed Sultan with 554, out of 625. Khurrum Inam stood second with 553 points. Amin Karamat and Abdul Sattar stood third and fourth, respectively, with 538 and 527 points. Ahmed Sultan who topped the trials scored an average of 110.
Khurrum Inam too scored 110 on average in those trials, but managed to increase the average to 113 in the final trials, which was below the par, nevertheless.
All this appears ironic when we see that all the four skeet shooters were selected for the trials by the NRAP because they had achieved the Maximum Qualifying Scores (MQS) during international competitions.
Executive Vice President NRAP Razi Ahmed Khan, who is also the coach of Khurrum Inam, said people should not compare trials with matches because they are always tough. He further said that Khurrum was the best skeet shooter of the country and had the potential to bring laurels for the country. “He will not have any pressure on him during the Olympics so he would try his best.”
Khurram agreed that the performance of all the skeets was not at par in the trials. “Any national level tournament, championship, or trials is filled with huge pressure and competition, yet I can say that I have maintained my performance in the last 20 years by winning so many titles and gold medals,” said Khurrum while talking to this scribe.
He further said that the trials were very tough for him and the other shooters. “Very hot weather in Karachi during the trials also affected our performances,” he added.
Khurrum said they did not get to play at international level as much as players of other countries did.
“Despite limited international exposure, I managed
to score 119 in Sydney Olympics, and 123 in SAF games of 2000.”
To a question, he said that he would try to better his best score (119) in the competition where 40 best shooters of the world would vie for medals. “They are the ones who play the whole year and they get more than enough practice,” he added.
Regarding his preparations for the Olympics, he disclosed, “I am working on my weak areas because my style of game has changed over the years.”
