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Selection of shooter for London 2012 Back To Main

The News  

Waqar Hamza
 

KARACHI: Pakistan’s shooting authorities have decided to hold fresh trials after national shooters failed to impress much in the initial competitions held to select the best man for this year’s Olympic Games in London.

Sources told ‘The News’ on Friday that both the top performers of the national trials – Khurram Inam and Ahmed Sultan — scored on average of 110 in the earlier trials, which was below the par as 114 is the minimum qualifying score for Olympics.

“Therefore, National Rifle Shooting Association of Pakistan has decided to go for fresh three-day trials in the last week of this month,” said a source. “Before these trials both the top shooters have three weeks to practice.”

The average score of all four shooters, who were selected for the five-day trials was 107 or 108, which was so poor that no body was deemed suitable to participate in the world’s most prestigious games, sources said.

They added that all the four selected shooters had been informed prior to the trials that the scores of four major events held in the last six months — from November 2011 to April 2012 — will also be considered besides the results of the five-day trials. “Yet, some of them are making hue and cry for no reason,” said a source. “None of them can be sent to the Olympics simply on the basis of their poor scores in the trials.”

Four major events were held during the period: Asian Shooting Championship, Asian Shotgun Championship, Shooting World Cup, and National Shooting Championship.

Sources said that Khurrum Inam is 10 points ahead of Ahmed Sultan as per results of the national championship and the world cup, but he will have to give good results in the fresh trials to get a London berth.

“As per rules, Ahmed Sultan cannot be given priority over Khurrum Inam solely on the results of the trials,” a source said.

The five-day trials for skeet shooters concluded on May 23 in Karachi, in which Ahmed Sultan scored 554 points out of 625 points and Khurrum Inam 553. Amin Karamat and Abdul Sattar were third and fourth, respectively, with 538 and 527 points.

Since Pakistan has received one wild card entry for London Olympics in skeet shooting event, which will begin on July 30, the NRAP conducted these trials to select the nation’s best shooter.

The trials were conducted on May 6, 9, 13, 20, and 23 at the shooting range at Karsaz, Karachi. The four were selected for the trials as they had achieved Maximum Qualifying Scores (MQS) during international competitions.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/