Kuwait became the first Gulf country to claim a medal at the Incheon Games but they had to settle for two silver as China ended their reign in the Trap shooting event, winning both the team gold and the individual title through Gao Bo.
The Chinese trio of Du Yu, Zhang Yiyao and Gao edged out Kuwait’s Fehaid Aldeehani, Abdulrahman Al Faihan and Khaled Almudhaf by three shots, winning 357-354, while South Korea claimed the bronze.
Gao then overcame London Olympics bronze-medallist Aldeehani 15-12 in the individual final. Andrey Mogilevskiy took the bronze with a 14-8 win over El Najjar Walid of Lebanon.
UAE’s Hamad Al Kendi had a decent trap competition, qualifying to the semi-finals with a score of 119 (out of 125 targets) to be placed sixth in qualification. But the 45-year-old was knocked out in the semis after hitting just eight of 15 targets.
In other shooting action yesterday, teenager Kim Cheong- Yong beat the Olympic and world champion as South Korea swept the men’s 10m air pistol titles. The 17-year-old edged a star-studded field in the eight-man final to claim the individual crown.
Kim’s hero, South Korea’s Olympic and world champion Jin Jong- Oh, was relegated to third place behind former Olympic gold medallist Pang Wei of China.
Kim, a Seoul high school student, finished with a score of 201.2, just ahead of Pang on 199.3 and way ahead of Jin’s tally of 179.3. Virtually unknown before this year, Kim first came to attention when he finished second at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing in August.
The youngster said competing with other countries in Nanjing gave him hope of doing well at the Asian Games. “My hero Jin was there as were the Chinese, so I knew it would not be easy, but I had confidence in my game. Winning the Asian title is a dream come true.”
