With a rub of luck, Frenchman Anthony Terras won his second Qatar Open Shotgun skeet title defeating Gonzalo Gil in a close final at the Lusail Shooting Range yesterday.
Qatar’s Masoud Saleh Hamad was fifth while London Olympics bronze medallist Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah finished sixth. Rashid Saleh Hamad, who secured an Olympic quota place for Qatar recently, was eighth.
Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Terras edged out Gil 13-12 in the final round after the Argentine, requiring two shots out of his last four for a victory, missed the last three.
“I am very lucky, you can finish in the top place or in the fourth place, this is shooting, you have to take your chances. I have no regrets as I have a gold medal in my pocket and that is not bad,” Terras said.
Terras had won the title three years ago defeating Russia’s Valeriy Shomin, who defeated Kuwait’s Saud Abib 16-14 in the bronze medal round.  
“Of course, I am very happy. In 2013, I won the first place in Qatar. This competition for me is very interesting as the shooting range is beautiful, many good shooters take part in the championship and the shooting season starts with this event, so it a good competition to take part in,”  the 2003 and 2005 world championship winner said.
On his preparations for Rio Games, he said, “The championship will help me in studying my shortcomings and prepare adequately for the Olympics.”
Terras denied adopting any special plan for Olympics.
“No special preparation for the Games. For me the way to win is same for all the tournaments… you have to shoot maximum targets,” the 2009 World Cup Final champion said.
Gil admitted that he lost focus at the final stage. “Yes, I lost focus. The level of targets was very high and I was expecting it be a bit lower. This event is a good preparation for us. In the next few days we will have serious preparations for the World Cup, so this has been fantastic,” the Argentine, whose best World Cup result is fifth place, said.
With the top three — Terras (123), Gil (123) and Shomin (123) — confirming their berths for the final stage, five others, including al-Attiyah and Hamad, were tied on 122, seeking the three remaining berths in the final.


Great Britain’s Jack Fairclough (centre) won the juniors skeet title ahead of Dutch shooter
Tobias Haccou van der Hagen (left) and Niyaz Aghazada of Azerbaijan.




Al-Attiyah, who is vying for an Olympic spot, won the shoot off to enter the last six, but Hamad missed the opportunity.
“It was a good start for me. I am happy with my show as I scored a very good 122 and enter the final and finished sixth overall,” al-Attiyah said.
Talking about the competition, al-Attiyah said, “It was really tough. Out of the seven shooters, six had already qualified for the Games. They have devoted more time to training than me. I don’t have the feeling of the final today, as I have not competed anywhere since 2012 London Olympics.  So it was a good outing for me here before the Cyprus World Cup which is next month,” he said.
Al-Attiyah, who was pre-occupied with other things like winning the WRC2 Championships and the Dakar Rally in 2015, said now his entire focus is on shooting.
“Since 2012, my focus has not been on shooting but now after Asian Qualifying in India I am more focused on shooting. I have cancelled all the rally assignments. Till the Olympics, I will only race in the Middle East,” the 45-year-old rally star said.
Hamad also echoed al-Attiyah’s view on the presence of a strong field in the Qatar event.
“It was a tough competition. It was a much stronger field than the Asian Qualifying Championship in New Delhi. It was like a mini World Cup with some of the biggest names contesting,” he said.
“I am happy with my score as it was good preparation for the Cyprus World Cup next month. I need to work on a few areas, which I will do in next few days in consultation with my coach,” the 28-year-old said.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Jack Fairclough won the juniors skeet title finishing at 121, ahead of Dutch shooter Tobias Haccou van der Hagen (117) and Niyaz Aghazada (113) of Azerbaijan. Sultan al-Mansouri was the top-finisher among Qatari contenders with 92.


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