The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Thrilling fare on the cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Thrilling fare on the cards

Kamesh Srinivasan

JAIPUR: The presence of five Olympic qualified shooters will lend lustre to the skeet event at the Asian Clay shooting championship at the Jagatpura Range here.

Asian champion Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait will spearhead the gold aspirants in the two-day skeet competition that kicks off on Wednesday.

Quite interestingly, the three skeet shooters who won the Olympic quota places in the Asian championship in Kuwait, taking the third to fifth positions, will all be firing away.

Saeed Almaktoum of UAE along with the Al-Attiya brothers — Nasser and Abdulla Aziz — are among the Olympic qualified shooters and are all capable of winning the gold on their day.

The 25-year-old Zaid Almutairi of Kuwait, who had won the junior silver in the World Championship at Cairo in 2001 apart from the Olympic quota last year in the World Cup at Maribor, will be another shooter to watch with interest.

Struggle for Indians

On the other hand, the Indian skeet shooters have struggled to make an impact in the international arena, over the years. The high standard on the international scene is one of the reasons for the Indian shooters failing to win medals in skeet. In fact, their attempt generally has been to avoid figuring too low in the results list.

National champion Mairaj Ahmed Khan, former champion Navin, Jindal and Parampal Singh went through the practice session diligently on Tuesday. If one of them makes the final, it will be an impressive achievement.

Among the women, Arti Singh does not figure in the field as she is down with a viral infection. In her absence, Saniya Sheikh and Rashmi Rathore will be the ones to project the Indian challenge in the women’s event.

The juniors will have a good chance to compete at this level and hone their skills.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport