Darth Vader
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2011
- Messages
- 4,444
- Reaction score
- 3
- Country
- Location
Gulf Daily News]
Growing numbers of Bahraini women have bitten the bullet against traditional stereotypes to become expert shooters. Fresh from the country's success at the third GCC Women's Games, where 10 female participants picked up eight medals, the GDN visited the Bahrain Shooting Federation in Sakhir to discover what motivated them to take up the sport
Bahraini women are making their mark on the world stage in a sport some consider to be culturally taboo.
Ten of the country's top female shooters took the third GCC Women's Games by storm, winning three gold and two silver medals in the rifle competition and three bronze medals in the pistol category.
But despite their success, Bahrain Shooting Federation juries chairman Adel Al Asad said Bahraini women's achievements often go under the radar.
"In Bahrain, shooting is a sport that never seems to make headlines even though we have some of best shooters in Gulf and even in the world," he said.
One of the country's best shooters is rifle gunwoman Azza Al Qassimi, who is ranked first in the Gulf and 33rd in the world.
"I have been shooting as my profession for the past eight years and now I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else," she said.
"As almost everyone knows, guns are not in the local market. It is only police and the army that have access to guns".
"I applied for a job with the Interior Ministry and as part of the training, everyone is required to get a little gun training with pistols".
"I did very well so after the training was completed they told me that I would be training to be a shooter for the national team."
Ms Al Qassimi's life is similar to any working Bahraini mother, but from around 9am to 1pm almost daily, she is being coached to perfect her shooting style.
The 26-year-old admits her family initially had reservations about her using guns.
"I couldn't imagine myself doing this if you asked me 10 years ago".
"In all honesty when I was assigned to be on the national shooting team I was worried," she said.
"My family were worried for me as they were thinking that it was not safe."
Her experience was echoed by Bahrain's leading female pistol shooter Alya Aleeq, who hopes to make it a lifelong career.
"At the beginning, my own family thought I was crazy to be doing this and were worried for my safety but I stuck with it".
"After a while, they not only began to accept it but also encourage it," she said.
Ms Aleeq, 26, started shooting at the age of 19 and just seven years later represented her country in two worldwide competitions in the 10-metre live ammunition and air category.
"People shoot well into their 60s and I hope that I can get as many medals as I can on the way to becoming a coach".
"Now I am working more on my competition play as the added stress lowers accuracy".
"For example, in competitions my average is 367 out of 400 but my actual point range is from 367 to 372, which is still high but not high enough".
"If I am having a bad day or if something is making me think too hard while I shoot, my aim is way off. So a lot of shooting is self-discipline but we do have to work out our necks and arms daily too."
Bahrain has five shooting ranges, all heavily restricted to the public.
But it is at the shooting federation where Bahraini men and women are trained to Olympic standards.
A senior official at the range, who asked to remain anonymous, said the sport has only become serious in the past 15 years.
"This facility is focused on creating Olympic contenders and everything here is up to the standard including the guns and ammunition," he said.
Most of the Olympic standard equipment used by shooters comes from Germany, Italy and Switzerland and the ammunition from the UK.
Shooters competing to Olympic standards have to abide by a strict code and have to memorise a 466-page rule book.
It sets out everything from their behaviour to the scoring procedures and any breach can result in a warning, point deductions and even disqualification from competitions.
Rifle coach Iordan Mitov has helped shaped Bahrain's women's rifle squad into two-time Arab champions and they brought back four golds, a silver and bronze from a completion in the UAE last November.
He has high hopes ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
"In the seven years I have been here, I have brought over 60 medals and trophies with this team and I take great pride in their development," said Mr Mitov.
"I started with this team from zero and I handpicked the girls on this team from a group of over 200 potentials. But that doesn't mean that these are the only ladies I train, just five months ago I started off with four new girls".
"When it comes to shooting, we try to get them as young as possible like around the age of 18 or 19".
"It takes about two to three years before someone is ready for competitions as an individual".
"These girls are excelling so fast and are responding so well to the instructions".
"It is known that women take instructions better in this sport and that is why I exclusively train then".
"They have surpassed my expectations."
Growing numbers of Bahraini women have bitten the bullet against traditional stereotypes to become expert shooters. Fresh from the country's success at the third GCC Women's Games, where 10 female participants picked up eight medals, the GDN visited the Bahrain Shooting Federation in Sakhir to discover what motivated them to take up the sport
Bahraini women are making their mark on the world stage in a sport some consider to be culturally taboo.
Ten of the country's top female shooters took the third GCC Women's Games by storm, winning three gold and two silver medals in the rifle competition and three bronze medals in the pistol category.
But despite their success, Bahrain Shooting Federation juries chairman Adel Al Asad said Bahraini women's achievements often go under the radar.
"In Bahrain, shooting is a sport that never seems to make headlines even though we have some of best shooters in Gulf and even in the world," he said.
One of the country's best shooters is rifle gunwoman Azza Al Qassimi, who is ranked first in the Gulf and 33rd in the world.
"I have been shooting as my profession for the past eight years and now I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else," she said.
"As almost everyone knows, guns are not in the local market. It is only police and the army that have access to guns".
"I applied for a job with the Interior Ministry and as part of the training, everyone is required to get a little gun training with pistols".
"I did very well so after the training was completed they told me that I would be training to be a shooter for the national team."
Ms Al Qassimi's life is similar to any working Bahraini mother, but from around 9am to 1pm almost daily, she is being coached to perfect her shooting style.
The 26-year-old admits her family initially had reservations about her using guns.
"I couldn't imagine myself doing this if you asked me 10 years ago".
"In all honesty when I was assigned to be on the national shooting team I was worried," she said.
"My family were worried for me as they were thinking that it was not safe."
Her experience was echoed by Bahrain's leading female pistol shooter Alya Aleeq, who hopes to make it a lifelong career.
"At the beginning, my own family thought I was crazy to be doing this and were worried for my safety but I stuck with it".
"After a while, they not only began to accept it but also encourage it," she said.
Ms Aleeq, 26, started shooting at the age of 19 and just seven years later represented her country in two worldwide competitions in the 10-metre live ammunition and air category.
"People shoot well into their 60s and I hope that I can get as many medals as I can on the way to becoming a coach".
"Now I am working more on my competition play as the added stress lowers accuracy".
"For example, in competitions my average is 367 out of 400 but my actual point range is from 367 to 372, which is still high but not high enough".
"If I am having a bad day or if something is making me think too hard while I shoot, my aim is way off. So a lot of shooting is self-discipline but we do have to work out our necks and arms daily too."
Bahrain has five shooting ranges, all heavily restricted to the public.
But it is at the shooting federation where Bahraini men and women are trained to Olympic standards.
A senior official at the range, who asked to remain anonymous, said the sport has only become serious in the past 15 years.
"This facility is focused on creating Olympic contenders and everything here is up to the standard including the guns and ammunition," he said.
Most of the Olympic standard equipment used by shooters comes from Germany, Italy and Switzerland and the ammunition from the UK.
Shooters competing to Olympic standards have to abide by a strict code and have to memorise a 466-page rule book.
It sets out everything from their behaviour to the scoring procedures and any breach can result in a warning, point deductions and even disqualification from competitions.
Rifle coach Iordan Mitov has helped shaped Bahrain's women's rifle squad into two-time Arab champions and they brought back four golds, a silver and bronze from a completion in the UAE last November.
He has high hopes ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
"In the seven years I have been here, I have brought over 60 medals and trophies with this team and I take great pride in their development," said Mr Mitov.
"I started with this team from zero and I handpicked the girls on this team from a group of over 200 potentials. But that doesn't mean that these are the only ladies I train, just five months ago I started off with four new girls".
"When it comes to shooting, we try to get them as young as possible like around the age of 18 or 19".
"It takes about two to three years before someone is ready for competitions as an individual".
"These girls are excelling so fast and are responding so well to the instructions".
"It is known that women take instructions better in this sport and that is why I exclusively train then".
"They have surpassed my expectations."
