Incheon, South Korea: The UAE’s Hamad Bin Mijren Al Kendi was left ruing missed chances as he fell short of a possible medal in the men’s trap shooting competition at the 17th Incheon Asian Games here on Sunday.

After doing well to end in sixth place in qualifying at the Gyeonggido Shooting Range, Al Kendi finished in the same sixth position after hitting just eight of a possible 15 targets in the final.

“This is such a sad day for me. I was there and I could have taken home a medal. I think I had everything going my way till a lapse in concentration cost me a medal and this honour of seeing the UAE flag flying at an Asian Games,” Al Kendi told Gulf News.

Much was expected of Al Kendi after he had climbed his way into joint second at the end of the first day of qualifying on Saturday. Kuwait’s Fehad Al Deehani was tied at the top with Kazakhstan’s Andrey Mogilevskiy on 74 points each, while Al Kendi followed with another four shooters in second place with identical scores of 72.

Al Deehani, who set the Asian Games record at the 1994 Hiroshima Asiad, finally settled for silver after China’s Gao Ao kept his calm to shoot a perfect 15 in the final. Kazakhstan’s overnight leader Andrey Mogilevskiy edged out Walid Al Najjar of Lebanon for bronze.

In Sunday’s two rounds of qualifying, Al Kendi started well, shooting a perfect 25 in the fourth, only to lapse a bit and finish with a 22 that was just enough for him to finish clear of China’s Zhang Yiyao, South Korea’s Jung Changhee and Qatar’s Rashid Hamad Al Athba, who all finished with 118.

The UAE could have landed the team bronze, but their trio of shooters Al Kendi, Mohammad Al Falasi and Walid Al Aryani were pipped to third place by South Korea by just one point. The Chinese trio of Du Yu, Gao and Zhang Yiyao totalled 357 for the team gold, while Al Deehani’s fine form ensured the silver medal for Kuwait, along with Abdul Rahman Al Faihan and veteran Khalid Al Mudhaf.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s cycling team of Majid Al Baloushi, Badr Mirza, Ahmad Yousuf Al Mansouri and Yousuf Al Hammadi finished seventh in the men’s team pursuit after beating Iran.

Competing at the majestic Incheon International Velodrome, the UAE quartet had earlier lost to Asian champions Kazakhstan in the first heat, meaning they were out of contention for a medal.

The UAE had lost to Kazakhstan after finishing in a time of 4 min 26.466 sec, compared to the Kazakhs’ 4:14.246.