In a dramatic turn of events, the UAE's Olympic champion Shaikh Ahmad Mohammad Hasher Al Maktoum bid a tearful farewell to shooting.

"Enough is enough," Shaikh Ahmad told Gulf News as he packed his bags to go to his local club and play a game of squash.

"I've done this for eight long years and got nothing out of it. So what's the point in continuing with something that doesn't give you back anything?" he pondered.

A little more than a month back on August 17, Shaikh Ahmad sent the country into raptures when he picked up the gold medal in the double trap shooting at the Athens Games.

"But what has that medal given me?" he questioned.

"Absolutely nothing! On the contrary, I've had to sacrifice so much just to achieve the dream of a nation," he stated.

In fact, Shaikh Ahmad spent a better part of Sunday at the Nad Al Sheba shooting range with his coach from Uzbekistan Rafael Mukhamediarov for some last-minute practice before he set out for Maribor, Slovenia to defend his title at the World Cup Finals there."On the way to the airport, it suddenly dawned on me that all this hard work and sacrifice was not really worth it as no one has come forward to recognise it," he said.

He turned back and headed straight home. The ISSF World Cup Finals are scheduled to be held in Slovenia from September 23-28. "It's just that I felt I couldn't take it any more," he said.

The ace UAE shooter is pleased that his decision has come at the right moment. "I was very convincing in my victory at the Athens Olympics. I was way ahead of the rest. And I think now is the time for me to sit back and see how I can dedicate more time to my family," he said.

"Nothing has changed for me since the time I started shooting seriously in 1997 till this day," he lamented.

"What I was seven years back, I still am the same today," he added.

"But I know that all my hard work and pain has brought me the Olympic gold medal. And I am proud of what I have achieved for my country. At last, I can walk away now with my head held up high," he stated.

Asked how he felt to let go of something he has cherished and lived with for more than seven years, Shaikh Ahmad replied: "I feel relaxed."

"Right now I am packing my bag to go and play squash. Later, I am going out for dinner."

However, after a brief pause, Shaikh Ahmad couldn't control his emotions and broke down. "I am sad," he said. "I was forced to stop shooting. This is a sport which has been in the blood of the Hasher family. It's simply that I took over from my father and my grandfather and took the sport to a higher level," Shaikh Ahmad said.

"I am proud of what I have achieved. But it is simply not worth it."