Dubai: Nearly 1,000 shooters from across the world will line up for the inaugural edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sporting Clays Championship that will get under way from 8.30am on Sunday.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the Nad Al Sheba Sporting Clays Championship has attracted arguably the biggest field in the modern-day history of the sport.
The official training sessions were held on Friday and Saturday and the first shooters will line up for the first of their four preliminary rounds at 8.30am on Sunday. Each shooter will get 200 targets after which, the best six will advance to the final round that is scheduled to be held on March 5.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Ahmad Hasher Al Maktoum, Chairman, Organising Committee is pleased with the preparations for this competition.
“Everyone involved has put in a lot of effort and we are ready for a wonderful competition of shooting,” Shaikh Ahmad said.
“Dubai is a natural attraction among the sporting community and we are happy to welcome some of the best shooters in the world today. On our part, we are ready. It is now up to the shooters to prove themselves,” he added.
One of the main attractions of the event is the generous array of cash awards for the winners. In the men’s competition, the first three will receive $140,000 (Dh514,227), $65,000 and $40,000 respectively right up to the 50th spot.
In the women’s category, the winner stands to receive $35,000, followed by $20,000 for the second place and $15,000 for the third right up to the 20th finisher.
On instructions from Shaikh Hamdan, a separate amount of $135,000 has been set aside for outstanding shooters from the Middle East region taking the total prize fund for the competition to $735,000.
