Qatar team win skeet gold at Asian shooting

Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Rashid Hamad and Masoud Hamad won gold in skeet team event but failed to book a quota place for the Olympics at the 14th Asian Shooting Championship at Lusail Shooting Complex on Sunday.

Rashid Hamad, Masoud Hamad, and Al Attiyah shot 120 points each out of 125 as Qatar took gold with a total of 360.

But in the individual competition, all three endured a terrible day and failed to book their place in the final and missed out on the Tokyo bus.

Rashid, Masoud and Al Attiyah all saw their challenge end at shoot-off.

Al Attiyah shot a disappointing 21 in the fourth round and though he came back with a perfect 25 in the fifth and final round, it only took him to an eight-way shoot-off, where he and his team-mates again failed to find their groove.

“The concentration was good. Yesterday we had good results, but today we couldn’t do anything because there was sandstorm and a lot of rain. Yet, we did our job, winning the team gold medal,” Al Attiyah said.

“Individually, we were in the shoot-off but all three of us were not lucky. There were eight qualifiers with a score of 120 and it was stiff competition. But this is how the sport is. You can’t do much in such situations. I’m glad for the team because it’s a strong team and to win an Asian championships gold is great,” he added.

Al Attiyah was hoping to receive a wild card for Tokyo, in what it will be his seventh Olympics. “It will not be easy to qualify for the Olympics but we will see. I have some good results and I hope to receive a wild card,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indian shooters continued to impress as Angad Vir Singh Bajwa won gold in skeet and Mairaj Ahmad Khan picked up silver, with both taking Olympics quotas. Their medals ensured India secured a record 15 quota places for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The bronze medal and the last quota place went to Saud Habib of Kuwait.

Earlier, teenager Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar’s secured India an Olympic quota in the men’s 50m rifle 3-position with a bronze.