Incheon: Shaikh Juma Bin Dalmouk Al Maktoum departed from Incheon on Thursday with the hope that his medal will inspire the rest of the UAE squad to increasing the nation’s medal tally at the ongoing Asian Games here.
Shaikh Juma beat Qatar’s Rashid Al Athba in the men’s double trap bronze medal match to win the UAE’s first medal at Incheon 2014 earlier on Thursday. Four years ago, he set the ball rolling in similar fashion by being the first to win a silver medal in Guangzhou.
“The colour of the medal is irrelevant to me at this stage. The UAE needed to get started and I am happy that I have been the one once again to start with a medal for me country. We still have more than one week of competition remaining and hopefully my medal will inspire many more UAE athletes to win,” Shaikh Juma told Gulf News.
“Sometimes there has to be someone to inspire something big. I hope and I pray that this medal of mine pushes the rest of the athletes into doing something big for their country. I am proud of what I have achieved and I hope there are many more from the UAE who can follow me.”
Early on Thursday, Shaikh Juma finished the qualification round as one of six finalists, behind eventual silver medallist Fahad Al Dhehani from Kuwait.
In the final, the UAE shooter missed the eighth and 28th targets to end with 28 points for third behind China’s Hu Binyuan (30) and Al Dhehani (29), who qualified for the gold medal match, leaving Shaikh Juma and Al Athba (26) to contest the bronze.
In the bronze medal match, Shaikh Juma was all poise and composure, hitting all but one of the targets to finish with a total of 29, while his Qatari opponent missed on the third and 18th to finish with 28.
The UAE sent a squad of 81 athletes, including four women, to Incheon. So far, members of the swimming, cycling and fencing teams have failed to deliver a medal.
The handball team, which has qualified to play in next year’s World Handball Championships for the first time, failed to advance to the knockout stages after losing all three games in Group G.
The UAE’s next biggest chance for medals is in the four-strong track and field squad. The football team will also be looking to equal, if not better, the silver medal they won at the 2010 Guangzhou Games. They play against Vietnam in the round of 16 on Friday.
