Incheon: The UAE’s Saif Al Mansouri stayed within striking distance of a possible medal in the men’s skeet shooting at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games here on Monday.
After three rounds of shooting at the Gyeonggido shooting range, Al Mansouri had scores of a perfect 25, followed by a 24 and a reckless 21 to total 70 points for a tied sixth place in the standings.
But it was an amazing day for the clinical shooters from China, as they occupied the top three places at the end of the first day of qualifying.
Zhang Fan set new Asian and Games records with three perfect visits of 25 points each. His teammate in second place Jin Di started off with a 24, but recovered well with 25 each in the next two rounds for a total of 74.
The third Chinese, Xu Ying, had scores of 23, 25 and 25 for a 73 total to be tied with Kuwait’s Saud Habib. India’s Mairaj Ahmad Khan led another three shooters in joint fourth place.
On Tuesday, all 39 athletes will shoot another two rounds of 25 each and the best six will qualify to the finals, scheduled for later in the afternoon.
Elsewhere, the UAE horse jumping team led by Shaikha Latifa Al Maktoum will resume their quest for medals in the individual competition early on Tuesday.
