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| Qatar’s Rashid al-Athba is lifted by teammate after his bronze medal winning performance in the Trap event on the concluding day of the Asian Shooting Championships at the Lusail Shooting Complex yesterday |
A dejected al-Athba pondered his next course of action and decided to try his hand in the Trap event. And lo and behold, his determination paid off and he would join a select band of Qataris heading to the Olympics in London later this year.
Yesterday, on the final day of the Championships, al-Athba weathered extreme windy and cold conditions to clinch a surprise bronze and quota for the host Qatar with a score of 132 at the Lusail Shooting Complex.
“I was very dejected and angry at myself after missing out in the Double Trap event. Trap is not my event but I thought I would give it a shot. I gave it everything and I’m happy that I finished on the podium from the strong field of shooters. It’s a huge day for me,” said an elated al-Athba.
Al-Athba had last represented Qatar at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the Double Trap but couldn’t make it to the finals and finished 11th. He later failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and since then has been working hard to have another go at the biggest sporting extravaganza.
“I had no training at all in Trap other than shooting sometimes for fun. It was just not easy to shoot out there with so much wind. But by the grace of God, I managed to get good results. However, now that I have qualified, I shall work hard. Insha Allah! I managed to get an opportunity and now I have to make the most,” added al-Athba, who has been among medals at the local, Asian and Arab level in Double Trap shooting over the years.
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India’s Manavjit Singh Sandhu poses with his Trap gold medal along with silver medallists Talal al-Rashidi of Kuwait and bronze medallist Qatar’s Rashid al-Athba on the concluding day of the Asian Shooting Championship at the Lusail Shooting Complex yesterday |
“It’s a huge result for us. We were expecting four quotas from this Championships but I’m pleased to have managed three. So we came close. It was indeed a great performance from al-Athba. All credit goes to the way he held his nerve under tough conditions. Hopefully, he can transform this success to win a medal for us at the Olympics,” said a beaming al-Maadeed.
The last day also proved to be good for the Indian camp with Manavjit Singh Sandhu coming good to clinch gold and the elusive quota in the Trap event with a score of 139, while the silver went to Kuwait’s Talal al-Rashidi who scored 134.
“It was so easy to collapse and it was impossible to predict anything because of the wind. I wasn’t looking at all towards the scoreboard and was just concentrating on the shooting. It was a much needed quota after going without any till the last day. I have been training here for many days now and I was desperate to get a good result. I’m very pleased with my showing,” said a relieved looking Sandhu after his triumph.
Sandhu, who entered the finals with a five points edge over second placed al-Rashidi, missed three points in a row in the final round and the deficit was reduced to a mere one point at one stage. However, with the wind picking up pace, all the finalists were left wanting. Sandhu and al-Rashidi missed eight shots each from their final 25 shots. Qatar’s al-Athba also missed 10 of his shots but his three-point lead going into the final round proved crucial in the end for a podium finish.
Sanjeev Rajput, who has already booked a ticket to London, provided India with a gold in the 50m Rifle 3 Position scoring 1,241. The silver went to Jonghyun Kim of Korea with a total of 1,238.3 and the bronze was bagged by Gagan Narang with 1,232. Narang has also qualified for the Olympics.
Imran Hassan Khan, who finished fifth, grabbed the second quota for India as all the other shooters above him had already bagged Olympic quotas. The Indians also won the team gold and silver in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions and Trap event, respectively.
“Medal-wise, it is a good performance but till the last day, the quotas were somehow eluding us. We kept missing quotas by small margins and that was disappointing. Some of our good shooters failed to deliver. They didn’t even come close to their practice score. Sometimes these things are inexplicable. However, to get two more quotas on the last day was a huge relief,” said India coach Sunny Thomas.
“This is the highest quota that we have managed for any Olympics. The best quota that we managed was at Beijing Games, nine in all and so we managed to exceed that. Let’s hope these shooters will train hard and peak on time for the Olympics,” added Thomas, who will be announcing the team for the Games in Delhi on January 23.