Pakistan skeet shooter to travel to San Marino next month. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI: Pakistan’s top skeet shooter Usman Chand failed to secure a berth at the Rio Olympics this year but is now gearing up for the ISSF World Cup Shotgun, which is scheduled to be held from June 1 to 11 in San Marino.
Chand had participated in two world cups in Italy and Azerbaijan last year to stay in practice for Rio, but failed to make it to the Games as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to grant wild entries to Ghulam Mustafa Bashir in the 25m rapid fire pistol event and Minhal Suhail in the 10m air rifle competition.
“I scored 121 in skeet in the world cup at Gabala in Azerbaijan last year to become one of the 17 shooters who achieved Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) for Pakistan,” Chand told The Express Tribune. “I also spent over Rs20,000 per day using 200 rounds on my personal training for Olympics, but all went in vain.”
He said he was expecting to be selected on a wild-card basis for Rio as he had fulfilled the requisite conditions to take part in the Olympics, but was disappointed when he did not see his name.
“This is part of sport, so now I have decided to play at least one big event this year and for that I’m leaving on June 5 for the San Marino World Cup where my skeet event will begin on June 9,” said Chand. “I will also be training harder to gain direct qualification in the next Olympics rather than relying on wild card entry.”
Usman, who is currently ranked 32nd in the world and 11th in Asia, said he will do his best to win a place at the next Olympics. “I will not wait for wild cards and other allocations from the IOC,” concluded Chand.
National shooting’s day four
On the fourth day of the 23rd National Shooting Championship, Navy added 10 more medals to take their tally to 38 — 21 gold, 11 silver and six bronze — to maintain their top position at the Karsaz Shooting Range in Karachi yesterday.
Navy is followed by Army with 17 medals and then PAF with nine.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2016.
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