(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Fawad Hussain
|
The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar's top skeet shooter Rashid Saleh Al Athba is ready to begin his quest for the coveted Olympic medal as he faces a star-studded line-up at the Chateauroux Shooting Center in Chateauroux, France today.
The 43-year-old, who qualified for the Paris Games after winning the World Skeet Championships bronze and the Asian Championships gold, has shown good form claiming a bronze medal in June's ISSF World Cup 2024 in Lunato, Italy.
This is Al Athba's third Olympic appearance as he participated in the men's double trap at the 2004 Olympics and the trap and double trap events at the 2012 Olympics.
Action on the opening day of skeet qualification will get underway at 10:30am (Doha time) today with USA's Vincent Hancock – joint Qualification World Record holder – and Italy's Qualification Olympic Record holder Tammaro Cassandro also among the 30 shooters aiming for six berths in the final during two days of qualification round.
Qatar clinched an Olympic medal in skeet when multi-talented Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah – a rally ace – won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Saeed Abusharib was the other Qatari shooter to participate in the Paris Games, making his Olympic debut in men's trap event on Tuesday.
High hopes for track and field stars
Meanwhile, Shahd Ashraf will begin Qatar's athletics journey in Paris hoping to leave a mark on her Olympics debut as she will feature in the preliminary round of women's 100m at Stade de France today.
Qatar has high hopes for track and field stars with eight athletes, spearheaded by reigning Olympic and World high jump champion Mutaz Barshim, taking part in the Games.
Abderrahman Samba, Bassem Hemeida and Ismail Doudai Abakar will represent Al Annabi in the men's 400m hurdles. The trio has already made history by becoming the first Asian trio from a single nation to qualify for the event at Olympics.
The athletics team also features Abubakar Hayder in the 800 meters, Ammar Ismail in the 400 meters and Saif Mohammed in the pole vault.
“All our athletes are well prepared and ready to give their best,” said Deputy Head of the Qatar delegation Ahmed Al Darwish.
“We are hoping great achievements from our athletes.”
Al Darwish added weightlifter Fares Ibrahim's preparation was in full swing, saying the reigning Olympic champion was busy training in Italy and will undergo a closed camp in France before arriving in the Olympic Village. Fares will seek his second Olympic gold in 102kg event, which will take place on August 10.
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