By Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatari women put up another impressive display on the seventh day of the 11th Arab Shooting Championships winning a gold, silver and bronze medal yesterday.
Qatar’s men’s team, comprising of Riaz Khan, Zafer-al-Qahatani and Adel Kahn, also claimed the 25m Standard Pistol bronze.
Amna al-Abdulla of Qatar fired 68 points in three rounds in the final to beat Kuwait’s Sarah al-Hawal by one points for the women’s Trap gold medal.
Amna, winner of the International Shotgun Championship gold, maintained the one-point lead in the first two rounds, though Sarah improved his performance in the last round as she outscored Amna with two points, but not well enough to beat her overall.
“I’m really very pleased with my performance. I’d not been shooting well for some months and it was putting a lot of pressure on me. But in the semi-finals and gold medal match, I was able to focus well,” Amna said.
“By God’s grace, I had a strong start in the final and maintained it for most of the match, which helped me, emerge the winner. I’m very happy with my comeback in this championship,” she said.
The bronze went to Qatar’s Kholoud, who finished with 67 points. Kholoud al-Khalaf also staged a superb return to beat Yasmine Marirhi of Morocco and win the bronze medal in the shoot-off.
Kholoud, a small-sized shooter, was very tense when the referee strangely asked her to remove her ear protection as she was not able to hear the instructions. Then she further became shaky when she was told not to stand away from shooting stations.
“It is a very important win for me today. I was under tremendous pressure due to the referee. But I just managed to overcome the challenges and win the bronze medal in the end. I’m happy with the way I fought back and stayed focused in my match,” Kholoud said.
In the Trap Team event, the trio of Amna al-Abdulla, Kholoud al-Khalaf and Nawal Abdulmalek clinched the silver as they scored combined tally of 197 points. The gold went to Morocco, while Kuwait won the bronze.
In the men’s section Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed al-Saeed and Mohamed al-Amri won the 25m Standard Pistol gold and silver, respectively. Oman’s Said al-Hasani won the bronze medal.
“It is good win for me as the competition was very tough. I think the Arab championship is good platform for the young shooters to show their talent,” al-Saeed said.
Amna al-Abdulla of Qatar (centre) won the women’s trap event ahead of Kuwait’s Sarah al-Hawal and Qatar’s Kholoud al-Khalaf.
