Dubai: Gebben Miles of the USA and Beatriz Cuenca Laparra of Spain topped the men and women’s competitions at the end of the inaugural Nad Al Sheba Sporting Clays Championship in Al Ruwayyah on Wednesday.
Miles, who was third at the end of the third day behind teammate Anthony Matarese and Great Britain’s Sean Bramley, did well in the last two preliminary rounds held during the morning session on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old two-time Sporting Clays world champion qualified for the final at the top of the standings with a grand total of 165 and a two-point advantage over Jose Manuel Rodriguez of Spain and two points from Matarese.
Another American Scott Robertson, who was in 13th at the end of the third day made his way into fourth with a total of 161 followed by the British duo of Christopher Broomfield and Sean Bramley in fifth and sixth with identical 160s.
In the final round held along three stations, Miles continued with his consistent form to notch a score of 178, while Rodriguez and Matarese were involved in a sudden death shoot-off after being tied for second.
The Spaniard missed on his second shot and Matarese broke the clay to make it one-two for the Americans. “I could not be prouder of these shooters. We came with 46 shooters and three of them featured in the men’s final and one in the women’s final and this is a huge success for us,” Judy Morris, head of delegation for the US team told Gulf News.
An emotional Miles was lost for words after his amazing win. “I’ve been living it one moment at a time and today, all the hard work has come together. It’s such an incredible feeling,” Miles said.
“I can be proud of what I’ve achieved here. I had a bad start at the first station and perhaps that put me off a bit,” Matarese said.
“But I am happy for coming here. I will return next year,” he promised.
The women’s competition was also a close contest with Laparra adding another 11 points to her score of 140, while Desirae Edmunds of the USA took the second with a total of 147 and Martina Maruzzo of Italy came in third with 145 points.
Meanwhile, the Middle East title went to Abdullah Al Rashidi of Kuwait, while the UAE’s Obaid Bin Dawi took second and two-time Olympic bronze medallist Fahad Al Dhehani of Kuwait took the third spot.
