Dubai: The UAE's lone Olympic gold medallist is giving himself just three more opportunities in order to qualify for next year's London Olympics.
Shaikh Ahmad Mohammad Hasher Al Maktoum, who won the UAE's lone gold medal in double trap shooting at the 2004 Athens Olympics, has accepted that time is running out and he has just these three chances of making it to next year's Games in London.
"I have three chances and I have to take these, or else I will have to hang my gun and watch the Olympics on television," Shaikh Ahmad told Gulf News.
"I am training six to seven times a week. The only thing at the moment is that I cannot beat the entire world of shooting in the next six months that lie ahead of me just like that," Shaikh Ahmad admitted.
His first step will be at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Maribor, Slovenia from July 7-16, followed by the ISSF World Championships Shotgun in Belgrade, Serbia from September 3-14. And in case he cannot achieve his goal at these two competitions, then Shaikh Ahmad will be on familiar ground at the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final Shotgun to be hosted in Al Ain from September 30 to October 7.
After his gold medal in Athens, Shaikh Ahmad continued competing, but a lack of initiative from the authorities forced him to announce his retirement from the sport. He did try and make a comeback while organising world-class competitions in an attempt to motivate UAE youngsters to take up to the sport.
Finally, he announced to Gulf News last October that he would have one more crack at direct qualifying to the 2012 London Olympic Games. "But for five years now I have been sleeping. So you can't expect me to get up and go take on the world. There is so much I have missed during this period. The world has moved forward and the sport and its athletes have gone to the next level," Shaikh Ahmad shrugged.
However, he also knows that not everything is lost. He still has the experience and his ability to single-mindedly pursue a goal, just the way he coaxed himself to the Olympic gold medal after stopping his squash activities in March 1997.
"With a few months to go and three important qualifying competitions before me, all I can depend is on my hard work and experience in this sport," he said.
"I have to qualify, and I want to qualify. And for this, I have to go through three more competitions and take the direct quota from one of these three. If I don't, then I don't deserve to be in London next year. I stay at home… as simple as this," he added.
Shaikh Ahmad is pleased with the way he has been practising. The confidence level is up to the mark, but it is just that some minor ingredients are still needed, and these can only come over a period of time. "It's not about confidence. I am shooting well during practice. So it's not about how many targets you break at home," he said.
"It's the whole package — fitness, preparations, everything. There are six elements that one has to take care and be 100 per cent, but here I am 100 per cent in only one, the other five are not there at all. These ingredients are needed and I don't have them," Shaikh Ahmad quipped.
"I have to take it and try my best and I believe in myself and I believe in God and I believe there is nothing impossible. I will try my best and I hope all the hard work will pay off and I will be there," he said.
