SAFRA — Lebanon's trap shooter
Ray Bassil says she is off to the
Tokyo Olympics on a mission to win a medal and spread a little joy among
Lebanese struggling amid economic crises.
اضافة اعلان
All hopes are pinned on the 32-year-old athlete in the Mediterranean nation,
which has not brought home a medal in decades since a bronze in Greco-Roman
wrestling in Moscow in 1980.
At a practice range north of the capital Beirut, she took aim with her
shotgun, focused, and waited for the clay plate to be flung across the sky.
Lebanon's famed cedar tree emblazoned on almost every part of her outfit,
she took part in one of her last practice sessions ahead of the competition on
July 28 and 29.
"My goal is to win an Olympic medal, not just take part," she said
at the shooting club in Safra. “I want bring some joy to the people of my
country.”
Bassil started out in the sport aged 14, accompanying her father Jack on
shooting trips.
By the age of 16, she was taking part in her first competition abroad in
Algeria.
She has since climbed up the rankings in the region and internationally,
winning gold in one event of the World Cup circuit in 2016.
She finished 18th in the trap shooting at the London Olympics, and then 14th
at the last Summer Games in Rio.
'Bring hope'
For the upcoming competition in Japan, Bassil has been training hard despite
some setbacks.
After catching COVID-19, she sprang back into training earlier this year
despite a round-the-clock coronavirus curfew in Lebanon, at first practicing in
the car park below her building.
She then headed off to a shooting range in the town of Massa Martana in
Italy, far from the "negative distractions" at home.
"I needed more appropriate surroundings to perfect my skills and
prepare for the Olympics," she said.
Lebanon is mired in its
worst economic crisis in history, and poverty has
soared to more than half the population.
Hundreds of thousands are struggling to make ends meet amid spiraling
inflation, fuel and medicine shortages, and endless power cuts.
Those who can afford it have left the country for better lives abroad, while
at home the country has been without a fully functioning government for more
than 11 months.
A probe into a deadly port blast last summer has failed to hold any
officials to account, sparking ever-growing popular discontent.
Bassil says she needs to focus.
"I know the situation in Lebanon is really bad. People are tired and
we're all mentally exhausted. But I don't want that to affect me," she
said.
"I want to change our outlook and help Lebanese breathe a bit. Maybe
sports can help bring hope to Lebanon."
'Not for any
government'
Bassil says preparing for Tokyo has been complicated in a country fast
running out of cash, where banking restrictions have kept people's savings
trapped in the bank.
"Even getting the bullets hasn't been easy," she said.
"Supporters in Italy and some Lebanese had to help me get them shipped
to Beirut."
But she says she managed to scrape together the minimum funds to compete in
Japan, appealing to private sponsors on top of help from the sports ministry
and the national Olympic committee.
The trap shooter is just one of six athletes from Lebanon set to compete in
Tokyo.
They also include Nacif Elias in judo, female weightlifter Mahassen Fattouh,
and sprinter Noureddine Hadid.
Munzer Kabbara and his female counterpart Gabriella Doueihy are to swim for
Lebanon.
"My country really needs me and the rest of my colleagues to
perform," Bassil said.
"(But) what I want to achieve is for myself and my family, and the
Lebanese people, not for any government."
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