KUWAIT: Kuwait's 10 meter Air Rifle for women shooter Maryam Arzouqi began the day by winning Kuwait's first gold medal in HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 7th International Grand Prix Tournament being held at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Shooting Complex. Arzouqi scored 247.8 points, while Egypt's Shaimaa Hashad scored 242.5 and claimed second place and Bahrain's Sara Al-Doseri won third place with the score 222.8.

The event was very competitive between shooters especially Arazouqi and Hashad, and it was decided in the final round.

Secretary General of Arab and Kuwait Shooting Federations lauded the new record in the 10m air rifle event, and was happy for the strong start by Kuwait shooters in the Grand Prix.

Meanwhile in the Women's Trap event Kuwait's shooters Shahad Al-Hawal came on top with the score of 48 out of 50, and Sarah Al-Hawal was second to Shahad by scoring 46 hits out of 50 as Italy's Isabella Christiana was third with 30 hits.

In the men's trap event, Khalid Al-Mudhaf from Kuwait fought through stiff resistance and competition and won first place and the gold medal, leaving Italy's Luca Miotta in second place with the score of 46 and Emanuele Buccolieri, also from Italy ended in third place.

Meanwhile, the Asian Shooting Federation held its meeting Sunday evening at the Regency Hotel, as the meeting was chaired by Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa, while President of Arab and Kuwait Shooting Federations Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi attended the meeting. Those in the meeting, then met the honorary President of Asian and Kuwait Shooting Federations Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa said several issues related to shooting including its future in Asia and internationally.

He said it was good to have the suspension lifted on Kuwait, adding that there will be good news at the "Olympic" level, and we are with Kuwait at all times.

Meanwhile, Engineer Duaij Al-Otaibi said "we are happy with the large participation of shooters. He said the ASC approved the technical, training and officiating course, and lauded the voluntary and employee teams at the ASC for their hard work and efforts.

Shooter Maryam Arzouqi said the technical level of the tournament was distinguished due to the presence of highly talented shooters, which made competition more exciting. She said that she benefited from the training camp that was held prior to the Grand Prix, especially that the trainers instructions gave her the ability to secure the title.

By Abdellatif Sharaa