Pakistan's Olympic ambitions in shooting

Shooting has been a beacon of hope in Pakistan's sports landscape. Recent years have seen a resurgence, with surprise wins on the international circuit.

Ghulam Mustafa Bashir made history by becoming the first Pakistani shooter to claim a bronze medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol at the 2022 Cairo World Shooting Championship. Kishmala Talat followed suit, winning bronze in the 10m air pistol at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, marking Pakistan's first-ever shooting medal in the Asian Games.

Moreover, three national shooters - Bashir, Talat, and Joseph Gulfam - qualified directly for the Paris Olympics, a first in the country's history. Now, all eyes are on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as Pakistani shooters hope to continue their upward trajectory.

The marksmen definitely will need extensive international exposure and standard training before they start flexing their muscles in the Olympics qualification events.

A senior official of National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) Javed Lodhi is optimistic that more shooters this time will earn quota places for the Los Angeles Games.

“We have eight to nine shooters who are in the mix and this time we hope at least five should qualify,” Lodhi told Nukta in a detailed chat.

Lodhi, who also is the vice-president of Asian Shooting Confederation (ASC), backed Mohammad Khalil Akhtar, Usman Chand, Imam Haroon, Farrukh Nadeem and Salman Khan to make a cut for the Olympics.

However, Lodhi knows that in order to achieve the desired results NRAP will need to provide adequate training opportunities to the shooters.

“We will need to keep our shooters highly engaged in international events throughout to make them able to fight for the Olympics quota,” Lodhi said.

“Now in August in Kazakhstan, Asian Championship is being held and we will field our shooters in it,” he informed.

“Our two shooters Hadia Liaquat and Shahzaib are going to attend the 13th Asian Youth Training camp to be held at Shymkent, Kazakhstan, from August 11-20. And after the camp they will go to the 16th Asian Shooting Championship to be held from August 16 to 30. And besides them around ten to 11 shooters from Pakistan will feature in it,” he said.

Lodhi said that exposure is extremely important before the athletes go into the qualifiers.

“You have to at least feature in three to four events before the main event in which you can win quota for Los Angeles Games. Exposure boosts confidence level of the shooters and it helps them to do well in pressure qualification events,” Lodhi said.

Lodhi said that some changes may occur in the qualification process but stressed that it normally starts after the Asian Games.

“The qualification cycle normally begins after the Asian Games. Last year there were five qualification events and this time let’s see what they do. Two are Asian events, two are World Championships and one is World Cup. But maybe it is changed,” he said.

“Asian Games is not in the qualifiers. But it may be included but personally I am not in favor of that approach to include it,” Lodhi said.

Lodhi also hopes that three female shooters are also expected to do well in the qualifiers.

“There are two to three female shooters and Kishmala is definitely one of them and is a strong contender for the Olympics slot. She is practicing regularly,” Lodhi said.

However, he said that she still doesn't have a job which is affecting her ability to focus full-time on the game.

“She has completed her masters in Mass Communications from NUML and deserves proper employment support to stay focused on the sport,” he said.

NRAP also is facing coaching challenges.

“In shooting, it’s very difficult to find a coach. There are two types of coaches. Some are those who have been world and Olympic champions but they have not done coaching courses. And the others are certified coaches, where experience is counted and you also look into his results,” he said.

“In shooting it’s very difficult to find a coach and when you find one you have to hire him for at least four years as no one comes for a few months,” Lodhi signed off.