JHELUM: Kishmala Talat slows her breathing and focuses on bulls under the sight of a gun as she bids to become Pakistan’s first woman to win an Olympic medal.
In the Paris Games starting on July 26, Talat will compete in the 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events, challenging stereotypes of returning home to glory abroad.
In Pakistan, the prospect of winning a medal is protected by a simple code that prevents women from participating in sports.
Talat, 21, from a military family, is the first Pakistani woman to qualify for Olympic archery.
There is a taboo in Pakistan that says “girls should stay at home, do girly things and play with dolls, and boys should play with guns.”
“I don’t see anyone as competition. I compete with myself,” he said.
‘He wants to do more’
Talat has won dozens of medals at the national level and won four at the international level, including Pakistan’s first shooting medal, a bronze, at the Asian Games last year.
Pakistan has won just 10 Olympic medals – all by men – not since the 1992 Games.
Talat, who recently graduated from university with a degree in communications, faced a tough challenge to reach the podium in Paris.
According to the International Shooting Sports Federation, he is ranked 37th in the world at 10m and 41st at 25m.
“I want to be known. I want to do more,” she said.
“Whenever the issue of shooting is discussed or ‘Kishmala’ is mentioned, I want it to be about someone who has done something good for Pakistan.”
Hoping he wouldn’t struggle, he trained 10 hours a day – an hour of calisthenics, then four hours each of 10m and 25m.
The last hours of the afternoon were spent in meditation, focusing on the flickering flames of the candles to light the woman who needed to find her purpose.
“I am dedicated to give my best performance to make the name of Pakistan shine,” said Talat.
His spare hand was tucked into his pocket and one eye was covered by a pair of traditional glasses, his face frozen in intense concentration.
The sport of target shooting is not uncommon in Pakistan.
Cricket is the most popular pastime, but all sports suffer from chronic funding shortages.
But, guns are everywhere in Pakistan.
The Small Arms Survey, a Swiss arms research group, estimated in 2017 that there are approximately 44 million small arms owned by civilians in Pakistan, either legally or illegally.
This number is the fourth highest in the world and means that there are 22 guns for every hundred citizens in a country of more than 240 million people.
‘City of Martyrs’
Talat’s talent was nurtured by the Pakistani military. Talat was trained by foreign officers and trainers at a military facility in Jhelum, known as the ‘City of Martyrs’ because of its strong links with the armed forces.
He hails from the garrison town of Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the armed forces.
Her mother, Samina Okakob, 53, is majoring in Veterans Services and proudly displays her daughter’s many medals in the family room.
A student once dreamed of competing with him.
“I’m married and busy with that life, but I’m happy to see my daughter moving forward with her dreams,” she said.
“Girls should come forward, observe, work hard and their parents support them,” said her mother.
“He believed he could do anything. Just him.”
