Rashid and Sarah take gold, al-Attiyah settles for silver

Rashid Masoud Jaralla and Sarah Mohamed clinched the men’s and women’s Emir Cup skeet gold medals while London Olympics bronze medallist Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah had to settle for silver.At the Losail Shooting Range yesterday, Jaralla upstaged al-Attiyyah and 2015 winner Khalid al-Muhannadi to win the gold.Jaralla, who was coming to the competitive shooting after a gap of nine months, qualified for the final in first position with 122 targets and maintained his supremacy in the gold medal round in  blustery conditions. In the end, Jaralla (45+8) beat al-Attiyyah (44+7) for the gold. Al-Muhannadi claimed bronze with 43.“I am very happy with the win today. I was coming after a nine-month break as I was dealing with some personal issues. I am happy to beat shooters like Nasser and Khalid in the Emir Cup as it is an achievement for me,” the 25-year-old Jaralla said.“I won many medals in Qatar before. For me, the most important thing was I showed that I have not lost any of my touchtouch,” said Jaralla.  The 47-year-old shooter and rally driver al-Attiyah, who took time from his busy rallying schedule to take part in the event, took silver. Al-Attiyah lauded the efforts of Jaralla, saying: “It was a very good victory for young Jaralla. I am happy for him as he has a bright future ahead of him.”Al-Attiyah, who crashed out of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge two weeks ago and got injured, was satisfied with his show yesterday. “I was not up to the mark today, but I am happy with my show considering I am carrying an injury. I’ve pain in my back. My coach advised me to skip it. But I said I won’t give up so quickly,” al-Attiyyah said.“I tried my best, but I wasn’t able to recover hundred percent. Anyway, it was a good round of shooting for me. It was good for me to reach the second place. I have lost some weight and now I’m worried about my fitness for the next week’s Sealine cross-country.Talking about his preparation, he said: “The level of the Qatari shooters is going up. It was a good competition and preparation for me ahead of some events. After the Sealine rally, I’ll go to compete in the Cyprus World Cup and then the Islamic Games in Baku.”In the women’s section Sarah stated slowly but once in the final she flourished in the windy conditions.“It was a great final, I guess... I shot 46 out of 60. It was a nice performance. Before the final, I and Reem were second behind Lulwa with 69 each. I’d never thought I’d win the title today. With each stage, I shot well and in the gold medal elimination, I managed to hit 10 out of 10 in the windy condition to claim the title. I’m very delighted with my performance,” Sarah said.Sarah was followed by the former Emir Cup junior champion Ammena al-Mansoori and Hanan Haji.The former Emir Cup junior champion Ameena shot 41 out of 60 to finish second was also happy with her performance, as she said: “It was tough competition for me. I tried my best and won the second place and I’m very proud of it. In 2014, I had won the junior title in the Emir Cup. So I’m really happy about this performance and the silver medal. This is the best result for me so far. I’m glad about my progress. This was my second event in the senior class. I’ll work hard and try to improve my results in the future competitions.” In men’s junior skeet, Abdulla Rashidan bagged the top prize. MM al-Khulaifi and HM al-Khulaifi claimed silver and bronze medals respectively.