KUWAIT: China continued its dominance of the 11th Asian Airgun and 8th Shotgun competitions, as Chinese shooters recorded two world records during the second day of competition and only two gold medals went to Thailand, meanwhile Qatar won bronze through its shooter Sarah Ghulam Mohammad.
China now has gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals on top of the table followed by Thailand with two, India with 3 silver and bronze, Singapore and Kazakhstan 2 silver and 2 bronze, Bahrain, Taiwan and Qatar with a bronze medal each.
In the women's skeet, Sarah Ghulam won the bronze medal and this was the best achievement in her young career. World champion in 2016 and Jakarta 2018 Thailand's Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit won gold, leaving the silver medal for Kazakhstan's Assem Orynbay. Kuwait was placed fourth in the team's competition for the same event, as the gold medal went to Thailand, silver went to China and the bronze was taken by Kazakhstan.
The women's junior skeet gold medal went to China's Yashu Sun, meanwhile her compatriot Zhengyi Song won silver and the bronze went to Kazakh Zoya Kravchenko.
Chinese shooters had another strong showing as Yuefeng Wang won the juniors 10 meter air rifle gold medal and India's Divyansh Singh took silver and China's Xiangyu Tian the bronze.
In the teams category China won gold, India took silver and Singapore took bronze.
World Champion in 2018, and World Cup winner in 2017 China's Mengyao Shi kept the Asian title for the second year running by winning the gold medal of the women's junior 10 meter rifle, as her compatriot Hong Xu won silver, while India's Elavenil Valarivan won bronze.
In the junior women event China took gold, India silver and Singapore bronze.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of Kuwait and Arab Shooting Federation, Director of the Championship Obaid Al-Osaimi said competition of the first day showed very high technical standard, adding that the dominance of the Chinese shooters is normal as shooters from East Asia are World Champions in this category. He said the organizing committee provided all that was necessary to ensure the tournament's success being during actual competition or training.
He said the championship is a good opportunity for Kuwait shooters to gain experience in the Airgun category due to the presence of world champions, and expected Arabs to make better results in the skeet, trap and double trap events.
Technical delegate to the championship Qatar's Abdallah Al-Hammadi lauded Sarah's win of the 8 bronze medal of women skeet. He lauded the preparedness of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Complex, and having Kuwait giving all types of support to make sure the tournament comes on as required.
China's team director Mo Yong lauded the results of the Chinese ladies in the skeet category, adding that China's level is high in this type of weapons and improve year after year. He said China gives priority to juniors in preparation for clay targets.
By Abdellatif Sharaa