Kuwaiti shooter Ahmad Al-Awwad

KUWAIT: Kuwait proved strong in the shotgun competition of the 8th Asian shotgun and 11th Asian Airgun Championships being held at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Shooting Complex, as it won a gold medal and two silver, though China increased the number of medals it won so far, as the championship saw four more world records broken.

Kuwait shooters won the skeet gold medal with a score of 359, meanwhile UAE took silver and China bronze, as they both scored 358 hits. Kuwait's team is made of Abdallah Al-Torqi, Mansour Al-Rashidi and Saud Habeeb.

In the individual competition, Kuwait's Saud Habeeb and Abdallah Al-Torqi reached the final and placed fourth and fifth respectively. Indian shooters Angan Vir Singh Bajwa who did not win anything in previous competitions, not only won the gold medal but broke the world record by scoring 60 hits.

Kuwait skeet team along with UAE and China teams

Meanwhile China's Di Jin won silver and UAE'S Saeed Al-Maktoum took the bronze. Kuwait's Ahmad Al-Awwad won the Junior's skeet silver medal, as the gold was claimed by Kazakhstan's Alexandar Mukhamediyev and the bronze went to China's Xuyang Dou, as Kuwait's Hamad Al-Albani ended in fourth place. In the team competition Kuwait won silver as Kazakhstan won the gold.

In the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition China's Yang and Zhao claimed gold, while their compatriots Wang and Cao took the silver and Japan's Shimizu and Okada took bronze. Meanwhile in the junior competition the team of Valarivan and Hazarika claimed gold, China Shi and Wang won silver and India's Ghosh and Babuta took bronze. Valarivan and Hazarika broke the world record by scoring 502.1 points breaking the previous won which was 499 held by an Italian team. In the juniors mixed team China's Mengyao and Yuefeng Wang won first place and the gold medal, while China's team 2 of Hong Xu and Xiangyu Tian won silver and India's Elanvenil and Hriday Hazarika took the bronze.

Eng Duaij Al-Otaibi with the mixed team winners

China now won 12 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze medals followed by India with two gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze, Kazakhstan with two gold, two silver and two bronze, Thailand two gold, Kuwait one gold and two silver, Singapore two silver and two bronze UAE one silver and one bronze, Japan two bronze, Bahrain, Taiwan and Qatar one bronze each.

Meanwhile President of Arab and Kuwait Shooting Federations, Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee Eng Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi said he was happy with Kuwait's winning three medals and considered the juniors winning two silver medals is a continuation of the men's achievements.

He said Kuwait's winning the teams gold amidst the best shooters in Asia is an achievement of itself, adding Kuwait's shooters will seek to win more medals during the competition being held in their own homeland.He said participating teams are presenting high levels under an outstanding organization as he congratulated the winners so far.

Shooter Saud Al-Hamly said competitions are very good and the success being made by Kuwait shooters fulfills the wish of leaders to reach the standard befitting Kuwait. He said after winning the teams silver medal in the skeet competition that it was really hard as they competed with world champions.

By Adellatif Sharaa