Ray Bassil and Alain Moussa from Lebanon have won their first gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games mixed-team trap shooting competition with a total of 43 points.
The mixed pair beat their counterparts from Chinese Taipei with a narrow margin in a fierce competition at Jakabaring Sport City in Palembang, South Sumatra, yesterday.
Their victory is important for Lebanon, which has not won a gold medal at an international sports competition in the Asian region.
Chinese Taipei won silver medal through Yichun Lin and Kunpi Yang, who gained a total of 42 points, while Xiaojing Wang and Yu Du from China had to settle for third place with 31 points.
Bassil couldn’t cover up her excitement at getting gold.
“This is very exciting, extraordinary, because winning a gold medal is not an easy thing,” said the 29-year-old.
She said that the competitors at the event were all great, even though Lebanon was initially not too favoured.
She said initially it was not easy to compete in Indonesia with its tropical climate. As can be seen earlier in the women’s trap category, Bassil, who had taken the lead two days in a row during the qualifying rounds, was unable to make the final.
But along with Alain Moussa, it turned out that the long-haired shooter could perform optimally.
“The air is quite hot and very humid, but it doesn’t matter. We have shown no one can stop us. That doesn’t matter anymore,” she said.