Doha: The UAE has high hopes of winning a medal in the skeet shooting competition in the Arab Games, as the men's team, led by Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, shared the second place in the competition after the first day qualifications.
Kuwait led the first day with 213, thanks to their marksman Zaid Al Mutairy who shot a full 75 while Shaikh Saeed scored the second best with 74 in three rounds of 25 each.
The UAE and Qatar both logged 211 points each, with contributions from Shaikh Saeed 74 (25, 25 and 24), Saif Bin Futtais 70 (24, 23 and 23) and Mohammad Ahmad Hussain 67 (23, 23 and 21).
In the second qualifications today, they will also shoot two rounds to decide the final standings for the individual competition and the team winners.
Saudi Arabia came fourth with 203 followed by Morocco with 193 while only Yassir Al Nasseri represented Oman and scored 71.
Time trials
Elsewhere, in cycling the UAE finished fifth in the men's team time trials as the teams from North Africa dominated the race as expected. The 71km race was dominated by Morocco, who won the gold medal in 1:26:31.66 followed by Tunisia for the silver in 1:26:45.00 and Algeria who won the bronze in 1:26:52.21.
Bahrain came fourth with 1:28:06.01 followed by the UAE in 1:28:39.44, then Qatar followed by Iraq, Egypt and then Kuwait who needed 2:04:35.37 to finish the race.
The UAE was represented by Yousuf Mirza Al Hammadi, Badr Mirza, Ahmad Al Mansouri and Mohammad Hassan Al Marwi.
"Considering the vast differences in capabilities between the cyclists of the North African countries and the other participants, I believe we achieved an acceptable result," Fahd Al Shehi, the manager of the UAE team, told Gulf News at the end of the race.
"The cyclists of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are professionals and take part all year round in European tours and have modern facilities which have made them first class cyclists," he said.
"We prepared for one month which I don't believe was enough to compete and win medals against the North African competitors.
"Competing against the top class cyclists is what improves our standards and I still hope that Yousuf [Mirza] will have better luck on Wednesday [tomorrow] in the individual competition," Al Shehi added. Mirza and Al Marwi will compete in the Men's Individual Time Trial tomorrow.
