Hussein Patwa is one of Scotland’s best target rifle marksmen, an expert at shooting .22 caliber bullets at a bullseye 10 metres away and not much bigger than a pinhead. He is also blind.
“It’s a fantastic conversation starter,” the Aberdonian says with a grin. “There’s either a gasp, a pause or a ‘How on earth do you do that?’ Welcome to the world of acoustic rifle shooting, a sport designed for the visually impaired. On the surface, there’s not much to differentiate it from the target rifle shooting on show last week at the Paris Olympics.
The rifle is the same competition gas-powered air rifle, as is the scoring system. In fact, the only difference is that instead of a visual scope competitors use an audible one that lets them aim with sound instead of sight. The higher in pitch the sound, the closer they are to the centre of the target.
Hussein’s gold haul and Paralympic ambitions Hussein has been an acoustic rifle shooter — off and on — since 1998 when he showed up at an open day at the Denwood Target Shooting Centre just off Aberdeen’s Countesswells Road. He loves it. And he’s very good at it.
Last month, at a national event in Swansea he took home two gold medals in his favoured discipline, the 10-metre bench rest, a seated variation that requires intense concentration and the ability to sit perfectly still for just under hour. But he is also at the forefront of a movement that could result in a fundamental shift in competitive shooting — .