The National Shooting Federation of Bangladesh has begun the process of forming a national team for the 6th Asian Airgun Championship, scheduled to be held in Tehran from October 19-25, officials said on Saturday. A total of 16 shooters took part in two events – the 10-metre air rifle and 10-metre air pistol – on the first day of a two-day trial on Saturday at the National Shooting Complex at Gulshan.
Under the supervision of local coaches, Anwar Hossain Iqbal and Lovely Chowdhury Akhi, the 16 shooters had previously trained for nine days in a residential camp.
In the men’s 10-metre air-rifle category, Shovon Chowdhury posted 588 points while Abdullah Hel Baki earned 587 points. Jesimuzzaman Himel (585) and Mahmudul Hasan Sajib (581) claimed third and fourth positions respectively.
Sharmin Akhter Ratna, 2010 South Asian Games gold-medal winner in 10-meter air rifle, registered 391 points, Sharmin Akhter scored 390 points while Syeda Sadia Sultana garnered 389 points.
Even though Ratna scored 391 points in the trial to clinch first position, she had bagged 397 points in the previous trial held between June 2-August 19. Similarly, in the previous men’s trial, Baki gathered 593 points.
‘We developed a rhythm after practising for nearly two months in the previous camp. However, after a long break, we failed to maintain our consistency,’ said Baki.
Meanwhile, the NSF notified reporters that they will only send a team to Tehran if they are content with the performance of the shooters.
‘If this trial had taken place after a few days, maybe it would have been possible for us to reach a certain level. But since we have just returned from vacation, it’s natural that our level of performance will decrease,’ added Baki.
Local coach Akhi blamed the vacation for the under-performance of the shooters and requested the NSF to keep in mind the hiatus before deciding whether to send the team to Tehran.
‘We understand the break is to be blamed for the decreasing performance of the athletes so I hope that the NSF will consider the break before coming to a decision,’ said Akhi.
After the opening day’s trial, another local coach Iqbal stated his displeasure with the level of fitness of the athletes.
‘We picked 16 shooters ahead of the Asian Airgun Championship. Actually we have tried to increase their fitness and mental strength by conducting two sessions of physical and yoga training everyday during the nine days of training in the residential camp,’ said Iqbal to reporters on Saturday.
Iqbal also said that 10-metre air-rifle shooter Tripti Datya and 10-metre air-pistol shooter Mahindra Kumar Saha did not join training due to technical reasons.
The NSF will observe the shooters again on Monday before picking the final squad for the forthcoming tournament.
-With New Age input
