Doha: Qatar’s Ali Rashid Al Mohannadi (pictured), clinched gold in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions in an Open event in Hungary to keep his hopes alive to bag the Olympic quota for next year’s Games in Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
Qatari shooters are fine-tuning themselves to make the cut for the Games, which will be held from August 5 to 21 next year.
The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF)-sanctioned World Cups and continental championships offer them a chance to do so as Quota Places are awarded to gold medallists.
The Asian Championships in Kuwait from November 1 to 11 in which Qatar shooters can clinch a ticket to Rio. The Asian Championship in Kuwait is the last event for Olympic qualification and will put a lot of pressure on the shooters as it will a make or break situation. Three competitors from Qatar — Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (skeet), Rashid Hamad Al Athba (trap) and Bahiya Mansour Al Hamad (rifle) — had tried their luck at the 2012 London Olympics.
Nasser had won a bronze in his discipline.
Ali, who took silver in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions at the Qatar Shooting and Archery Association Cup, believes more shooters can make it to the Rio Games.
“Most of us had a good domestic season,” he added.
“The Asian Championship in Kuwait is the last event for Olympic qualification. Naturally, it’ll put us under a lot of pressure. I don’t want to leave it late,” added the 2011 Arab Games gold medallist.
After the 51st ISSF World Championship in Granada, the 2015 ISSF World Cup series, the 1st European Games in Baku and the European Championship in Maribor shooters from 29 European countries had 148 Quota Places for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio-de-Janeiro.
The ISSF World Championship Shotgun that recently took place in Lonato del Garda, Italy, increased those numbers to 30 countries and 154 Quota Places.
Six additional Quota Places were won in Trap Men for Belgium, Trap Women for Russia, Double Trap Men for Great Britain, Skeet Men for Germany, Skeet Women for Cyprus and the Czech Republic. Russia is now leading the European list with 20 Quota Places followed by Germany that has 15. Italy obtained 14 Quota Places, France – 11, Serbia – 9 and Ukraine – 8. Great Britain has now 6 Quota Places.
Austria, Croatia, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia have five Quota Places each, Turkey and Belarus foureach. Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Switzerland and Sweden have 3 Quota Places each, Cyprus, Finland, Greece and Slovenia – 2 each, Belgium, Georgia, Israel and Portugal – 1 each.
The last chance for the European shooters to win Quota Places is the 2016 European Championship 10m in Györ, Hungary, where 12 Quota Places will be disputed in Air Rifle and Air Pistol, three in each of the Olympic events – two for Men and two for Women).
Several European countries can also expect Wild Cards from the ISSF.
The Peninsula
