Joseph, Kishmala flop in 10m air pistol in Paris

By our correspondent
LAHORE: It was a frustrating day for national shooters as Gulfam Joseph and Kismala Talat failed to enter final round in their respective 10m air pistol competitions of the Paris Olympics at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
Joseph Gulfam finished at the 22nd place among 33 participants in the 10m air pistol men’s qualification with an aggregate score of 571.
His series points break up was 96, 91, 96, 96, 98 and 94.
Top eight had to qualify for the finals.
Meanwhile Hanzghou Asian Games bronze medallist Kashmala Talat also flopped in the 10m air pistol women’s qualification when she ended at the 31st spot out of 45 shooters who featured in the qualification phase. Top eight qualified for the finals.
Kishmala’s series points break up was 93, 97, 94, 93, 95 and 95.
Both these shooters will now participate in the 10m air pistol mixed team event qualification phase on Monday (tomorrow).
Kishmala will also feature in the 25m pistol women’s event on August 2.
Pakistan’s ace shooter Ghulam Mustafa Bashir will feature in the 25m rapid fire pistol qualification phase on August 4.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s swimmers Mohammad Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi will flex their muscles in the 200m freestyle event at the Paris La Defense Arena on Sunday (today).
Both these swimmers are featuring in the Olympics for the first time on the basis of wild cards.
As many as 31 swimmers will feature in the women’s 200m freestyle heats and 16 fastest will advance to the semi-finals. In the men’s 200m freestyle heats 28 swimmers will participate and of them top 16 will go into the semi-finals.
Pakistan’s female sprinter Faiqa Riaz will feature in the 100m sprint on August 2 while Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan’s sole medal hope, will participate in the javelin throw event qualification phase on August 6. The final will be held on August 8.
Only seven athletes are representing Pakistan in the Olympics. They are accompanied by 11 officials.