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29 March 2024

Emirati shooter ranked 9th in double trap

United Arab Emirates' Khaled Alkaabi competes in the men's double trap qualification during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio de Janeiro on August 10, 2016. (AFP)

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By Sports Reporter

Emirati shooter Khalid Al Kaabi missed out on making it to the semifinals of the men's double trap in his debut at the Olympics despite firing a near perfect score of 29 in the final round of qualification.

Al Kaabi finished with an aggregate score of 133 to be placed ninth out of 22 shooters in the event where the top six progress to the semifinals.

United Arab Emirates' Khaled Alkaabi competes in the men's double trap qualification during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio de Janeiro on August 10, 2016. (AFP)

Germany's Andreas Loew and gold medal favourite James Willett of Australia led the way by setting an Olympic record of 140 after five rounds.

Great Britain's Tim Kneale (139) and Steven Scott (138) along with Italian Marco Innocenti (136) secured their place in the medal round while there was three-way tie to determine the sixth spot between China's Hu Binyuan, Joshua Richmond of US and Kuwait's Fehaid Aldeehani who had 135 points each.

Round four

UAE's medal hopes in the men's double trap event seem to be fading as Khalid Al Kaabi slipped out of the top 10 after firing another round of 25.

Al Kaabi has a lot of catching up to do in the final round of qualification having a total of 105 points out of a possible 120 following four rounds.

Only the top six advance to the semifinal round of the event to vie for medals.

Briton Tim Kneale fired a perfect 30 to reach the summit for the first time with a total of 114 points, ahead of Australian James Willett (114), followed by Germany's Andreas Loew and Italy's Marco Innocenti who are tied on 112 points.

Third round

Italian Marco Innocenti and Australian James Willett fired perfect scores of 30 in round three to lead the men's double trap qualification round at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro, Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

Innocenti is in first place with a score of 86. China's Qiang Pan (85) is second, while gold medal favourite Willett bounced back from poor second round to be third on 84.

Tin Kneale of Great Britain and Andreas Loew of Germany are also tied with 84 points.

Emirati medal hope Khalid Al Kaabi remained in contention to qualify to the semifinals.

Al Kaabi shot a score of 25 to be tied on 80 points with Steven Scott of Britain.

Two rounds

UAE's Khalid Al Kaabi has made an impressive start in his quest for gold in the men's double trap on his debut in the Olympics by getting a score of 55 after the first two rounds.

Al Kaabi is lying in joint fourth place along with Tim Kneale of Great Britain.

United Arab Emirates' Khaled Alkaabi competes in the men's double trap qualification during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio de Janeiro on August 10, 2016. (AFP)

China's Qiang Pan, Italy's Marco Innocenti and Germany's Andreas Loew are in joint first place, with all three having achieved scores of 56.

After a perfect score of 30 in the first round, gold medal favourite and world number one Australian James Willett has fallen to joint sixth after a relatively poor score of 24 in the second round.

Participants must fire on 75 rounds of clay disks, for a total of 150 disks in total.

The top six shooters then compete in a semifinal round involving 25 rounds of two disks each, for a total of 50 disks.  

The six shooters with the best score at the end of the five rounds will progress to the semifinal.

Success

Buoyed by the success of judoka Sergui Toma, UAE will be aiming for more Olympic glory when their sharp shooters enter the Shooting Centre in Deodoro, Rio de Janeiro.

Toma became the country's second Olympic medallist when he won the bronze medal contest in the under 81kgs class against Italian Matteo Marconcini on Tuesday night.

UAE have sent a three-man shooting team to the Olympics, including five-time Olympian Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Saif Bin Futtais, who will be competing in the men's Skeet on Friday.

Asian champion Khalid Al Kaabi will fire the first shot for UAE in the men's double trap which is scheduled to begin at 4pm (UAE time) today.

The Abu Dhabi police officer is determined to do his country proud and emulate his mentor Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum, who won gold in double trap at the 2004 Athens Olympics becoming UAE's first ever medallist at the Games.

“Our first and the last target is to shoot for the podium,” said Al Kaabi on the eve of the competition displaying nerves of steel.

He was in high spirits after participating in the five-hour official trials on Monday at the Olympic Shooting Center, having received a rankings morale boost just days before the event.

Unfazed by the problems he encountered at the Olympic Village, Al Kaabi says this would not distract him from realising the ultimate objective of landing a medal.

Al Kaabi has climbed to No.2 in the men's double trap Asian rankings on Monday behind Kuwait’s Fehaid Al Deehani whom he beat in the Asian Shooting Championships earlier this year.

Kaabi is placed in Group 4 which includes 22 shooters including Ahmed Al Afasi from Kuwait, Andreas from Germany, Vitaly from Russia and Enrico from Guatemala. Only six shooters will qualify from these preliminary rounds.

Saif Bin Futtais has retained his top spot in the Asian skeet rankings, while Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum, has climbed to No.7.

"Our three shooters embarked on a long-term programme after the London Games to have them as prepared and ready as possible," said Rabee Al Awadhi, vice-president of the UAE Shooting Association, before the team's departure to Rio.

"This is the first time we have had three qualifiers in shooting. They have participated in numerous world championships, grand prix events and training camps so they are well prepared. This has made a huge difference. We brought same machines they are using for Olympics for training because targets have been changed,” he added.

They booked places by virtue of their best finishes at the 2014 and 2015 ISSF World Championships, the 2015 ISSF World Cup Series, and the Asian Championships.