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| Qatar’s ace shooter Nasser al-Attiyah, Masoud Hamad and Rashid Hamad pose with the skeet team gold medal after the medals ceremony at the Asian Shooting Championships at the Lusail Shooting Complex yesterday |
Sometimes you are just lost for words. Yesterday was one such day when Nasser al-Attiyah etched his name in the annals of shooting history with a spectacular performance at the Asian Shooting Championships here.
The multiple Middle East Rally champion and 2011 Dakar Rally winner once again proved there’s hardly any sportsman in the world who could match his exploits across two very different but fiercely competitive sports by equalling the world record in skeet shooting at the Asian Shooting Championships.
Al-Attiyah scored an amazing 150 out of 150 to join Vincent Hancock of USA (2007), Tore Brovold of Norway (twice – 2008, 2009) and Jan Sychra of Czech Republic (2011) in a rare club of shooters who managed a perfect score of 150.
The 41-yr-old shot down all the 150 clay pigeon targets with precision to set the record and cement his place in the 2012 London Olympics.
Al-Attiyah, who will now figure in his fifth Olympics, also went on to win the skeet team gold for Qatar teaming up with his Arab Games gold winning partners Masoud Hamad and Rashid Hamad by a mere one point.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It’s a great feeling to win the individual gold with a world record and the team gold. Everybody knew that I’m coming directly from the Dakar Rally; completely tired but I pushed myself hard.
“In the official training, I didn’t do well and then I said to myself ‘I will do target by target’. And now to get this result is simply phenomenal,” said a beaming al-Attiyah, acknowledging the adulations of the people present.
The 2011 Dakar Rally Champion quit the annual race across South America after his temperamental Hummer broke down in the ninth stage, to take part in this last qualification shooting event for the Olympics once it was confirmed that he won’t be able to make up for lost time.One of the main reasons for al-Attiyah’s success has been his ability to switch off and start afresh. His movements, his walk and approach towards the shots were clearly distinct from the rest. After every clinical attempt, he would shut off completely – the gun slinging on his shoulder, his sleeves rolling down, slow blow of air into his palms and a quite stroll away from the pack with his head lowered in concentration.
“You just cannot lose concentration and even if you try hard, you sometimes lose a bit. I try to find different ways to get the concentration going. And this time in the final, there were times when I was thinking of my son, who is just eight months old. That was one way that I followed today, remembering his smile and look. Maybe that worked and was the key to my success today,” said al-Attiyah adding that his support staff did a great job in getting him fit on time for the event.
“My physio was working very hard for the last two days. After the treatment from the physio, I was feeling better. I used to work with him after every round to make me relax physically and also mentally. I’m really pleased with the support staff,” said al-Attiyah who won the skeet team gold and a bronze at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
The silver medal and the second Olympic quota went to Kuwait’s Abdullah al-Rashidi with a score of 147, while UAE’s Saeed al-Maktoum claimed the bronze and the quota. Korea’s Soo Kwang Cho, however, will be indebted to Di Jin of China for handing him the final ticket to the Olympics. Cho had finished his shots in the final round with a score of 24 and had Jin been on target on his last attempt, it would have been curtains for Cho. However, the Chinese failed to hold his nerve and missed, triggering wild celebrations in the Korean camp.
Earlier, al-Attiyah, who completed the first qualifying round on Monday with a perfect score of 75, also finished the second qualifying round of 50 without missing a single target.
Thus al-Attiyah had a vital three-point edge going into the finals over joint second placed al-Rashidi and Jin. The duo had a score of 122 each heading into the finals. Al-Maktoum, Cho and Mohamed Ahmad of UAE completed the top six berths for the finals with identical scores of 121.
The remaining Qataris in the fray, Masoud Hamad and Rashid Hamad, failed to make the cut with scores of 119 and 118, respectively. But their efforts were enough to provide Qatar with the team gold.