By Abdellatif Sharaa
KUWAIT: Four medals out of the 11 medals Kuwait won during the 19th Asian games were won by Kuwait shooters, which is a significant achievement and shows how outstanding they are, is what President of Kuwait and Arab Shooting Federations, Secretary General of the Asian Shooting Confederation Eng Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi said during the honoring ceremony of the shooters at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Shooting Complex.
Engineer Al-Otaibi said that focus will now be directed at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, as already Khalid Al-Mudhaf qualified for the games nearly two months ago, adding that he is fully confident in Kuwait shooters abilities to make more achievements. Al-Otaibi mentioned the winners and lauded their performance as Abdullah Al-Turqi Al-Rashidi won the skeet’s gold and mixed silver along with Eman Al-Shamaa, Talal Al-Turqi who won the singles trap silver, as well as the team along with Abdulrahman Al-Faihan and Khalid Al-Mudhaf.
Eng Duaij Al-Otaibi appreciated the major support the political leadership gives to the Kuwaiti athletes which enabled them to make this outstanding continental achievement. Meanwhile Secretary General of Kuwait and Arab Shooting Federations Obaid Al-Osaimi told Journalists the achievements came as a result of strategic plans by the administrative, and technical departments, and very hard work by the players. He said Kuwait shooters will participate in important international and Asian Championships that will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, and Kuwait Shooting Federation will work on preparing them at their best.
Speaking exclusively to Kuwait Times, Gold Medalist Abdullah Al-Rashidi said that "following the Asian games and the outstanding results not only winning gold, but also matching the world record of 60 out of 60 hits, motivated us to look forward for the upcoming championship which qualify’s for the Olympics”. He added that the score made in China will make other shooter pay more attention and exert more efforts as they believe it will be hard to beat us”.
He said "all I need is available, be it from Youth Minister, Public Authority for Sport, Olympic Committee and Shooting Federation, all are in support of our athletes in order to qualify for the Olympics”. It is very important for us to reach the Olympics because Kuwait shooting is the closest to winning an Olympic medal. It is worth mentioning that the upcoming Championship will be in Korea with two qualifying seats, and the next one will be in January in Kuwait.