National Shooting Championship Trophy: Navy successfully defend title

Bag 32 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze medals to be crowned champions

KARACHI: Pakistan Navy, yesterday, successfully defended their National Shooting Championship Trophy title as they finished the tournament, held at the Pakistan Navy Shooting Range in Karsaz, with the highest medal tally.

Navy shooters bagged 32 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze medals to finish on top of the table and were followed by Army, who collected eight gold, 17 silvers and 11 bronze medals to finish runners-up in the event that featured eight affiliated units of the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP).

PAF finished third with five silver and nine bronze medals, while Sindh finished fourth with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Meanwhile, HEC, Balochistan and Punjab won three, two and one bronze medals respectively.



Navy’s Maqbool Tabassum emerged as the best shooter of the championship with five gold and a silver medal to his name, while a total of seven national records — three in the air rifle, two in the prone rifle and two in the air pistol categories — were broken.

Tabassum hailed the performance of his team despite withstanding strong winds on the final day. “Most of the shooters from Pakistan Navy showed great precision with their aim. The wind did not make the task easier but I am impressed with the way our team handled it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minhal Sohail, who will become the first female shooter to represent Pakistan at the Olympics this year, believes that such championships should be held more often. “I have learnt a lot from this championship. Now I know which areas I have to improve upon as this high level of competition has highlighted all weak areas. These championships should be held more often,” Sohail told The Express Tribune.



Meanwhile, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, who was the chief guest at the occasion and distributed the prizes, was buoyed by the enthusiasm of the contestants on show during the championship.

“Shooting is a precision sport and demands concentration and practice. The championship has provided a great opportunity for participants to hone their shooting techniques and it is heartening to see the enthusiasm of the contestants,” said Aman.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2016.

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