Dubai: American and British shooters dominated in the men and women’s competitions as the Second Nad Al Sheba Desert Shooting competition concluded here late on Saturday.
After four days of intense competition under challenging desert conditions, the men’s competition witnessed shooters from the USA making a clean sweep while two shooters from Great Britain ended in the top three of the women’s category.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the annual competition had a total prize fund of more than $1 million (Dh3.67 million) with the men’s category itself having a total of $675,000 on offer. The top-40 finishers in the women’s competition shared from a total of $22,000.
Leading the charge for the Americans was Derrick Mein, who had taken sole leadership from the second day on Thursday. That hard work had given the 29-year-old from Kansas a comfortable cushion at the top of the standings. The American, who was accompanied by his wife Diana, merely consolidated his position and shot a four-round total of 169 by the end of the fourth round. Chasing him in second place was teammate William McGuire five shots off the leader while Joey Bolton was third with a four-round total of 162.
Great Britain’s Phil Grey, Sweden’s Andras Szerdahelyl and American Jon Kruger completed the top six positions with scores of 158, 163 and 158 respectively.
In the final shoot-off that consisted of 10 shots each at the three layouts, Mein cruised along to hit 20 and finish with a grand total of 189 to pick up the top prize of $200,000. McGuire finished on a grand total of 181 to take home $100,000, while Bolton won in a shoot-out against Grey to win $50,000 and complete the American dominance this year.
“This is the richest prize I have won in my entire career,” Mein told Gulf News.
“It has been a struggle for me as a shooter, but today’s purse has given me extreme satisfaction,” he added.
Mein grew up on the family farm ran by his father in Kansas. But growing up on a farm meant the youngster did not have access to proper training facilities and purse his dream of Olympic glory. “My last proper training session was 20 years back,” he beamed.
The women’s competition was closer with Hall holding on to edge past her opponent from Sweden. After three rounds, Hall and Jarnald were tied on 111 points while a second British shooter Katie Brown followed in third with 107. In the shoot-out over two rounds of 10 targets each, Hall struck 12 while Jarnald ended with one less to hand over the top prize of $50,000 to the British shooter.
