No gold but all respect for Pakistan's first female shooter at Rio Olympics

21-year-old secures 28th position in 10m air rifle event

KARACHI: Minhal Sohail, Pakistan’s first female shooter to compete at Olympics, secured 28th position in the 10m air rifle event at Rio Games yesterday.

The 21-year-old may have booked her place on the Rio-bound plane through continental quota, but she was pretty decent in the competition itself as she finished with 413.2 points and ahead of 23 other shooters in an event that featured 51 participants in total.



She missed out on a final round berth though as only the top eight shooters were guaranteed progression.

Minhal, who began participating in shooting competitions just four years ago, was satisfied with her performance and excited to be a part of Pakistan’s Olympic history.



Later on, the gold medal of the event Minhal participated in went to US shooter Virginia Thrasher, thanks to her 197.6 points, while China’s Du Li (196.9) and Yi Shiling (185.4) finished second and third respectively. Earlier in the day, Minhal was part of the Pakistani contingent at the opening ceremony, where her fellow shooter Ghulam Mustafa Bashir carried the national flag.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2016.

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