Doha: Qatari shooters will seek a winning start to the 2018 Asian Games when they begin their medal hunt at the Jakabaring Sport City Shooting Range in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia today.
On the opening day of competitions, Qatari female shooters Amna Mesaad Al Abdulla and Kholoud Hassan will be the first in action in the qualification round of Trap. In the men’s Trap, Mohammed Ahmed Al Rumaihi and Mohammed Ali will compete in the qualification round in the morning session.
In the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event, Matara Fahad Al Aseiri will team up with Ahmed Mohsen Al Ali, targeting a place in the final round which will take place in the afternoon.
In the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event, Aldana Saad Almubarak and Osama Abdulnasser Al Shaiba will also vie for a place in the final round.
Qatar has high hopes on their shooting contingent which includes 20 athletes and the team includes top stars in the caliber of London Olympic Games bronze medallist Nasser Al Saleh Al Attiyah, who is competing in his sixth Asian Games.
The 47-year old, who has won two gold medals in the team skeet events at the 2002 and 2010 Games and an individual bronze medal in the 2002 Asiad, will be eying his maiden individual gold in Palembang.
Elsewhere, at the Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in West Java, Qatari football team will be targeting a big win against Bangladesh in their final match in the preliminary round. Despite the absence of four key players,
Qatar drew against Thailand one-all before going down to Uzbekistan 0-6 in their first two Group matches. The result has placed Qatar at the bottom of the table but if they manage to defeat Bangladesh by a margin of four or more goals, Al Annabi would stand a chance to advance to the knockout stage.
In beach volleyball, Qatari duo Tamer Abdelrasoul and Mehdi Sammoud will take on Thai pair Jongklang and Khaolumtarn in their first Pool F match at the JSC Beach Volley Arena in Palembang.
Female rower Tala Abujbara will take part in her single Sculls event at the JSC Lake.
Meanwhile, at the Jakarta Convention Center Plenary Hall in the Indonesian capital, Akbar Huda will take on her Malaysian opponent Yap Khim Wen in the taekwondo – individual poomsae – Round of 16 bout today.
Wrestler Ibrahim Abdullrahman will face Kazakhstan’s Danitar Kaisanov in the men’s freestyle (74 kg) pre-quarter-finals.
Two Qatari fencers will also target medals today, in the Men’s Epee Individual event when Mohammed Mirzaei and Mohammed Alshamri face their respective opponents in the round of 32.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals of the taekwondo, wrestling and fencing events will take place today itself.
