Kuwait gears up for shooting tourney
KUWAIT: President of the Arab and Kuwait Shooting Federation, Engr Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi said HH the Amir Third International Shooting Tournament which will start on March 7 at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Shooting Olympic Shooting Complex will be distinguished and different from the previous two tournaments. This time the tournament will see three competitions shotgun, rifle and sporting, as all events will be under the patronage of HH the Amir.
Engr Al-Otaibi was speaking during a press conference held Sunday evening in the presence of KSSC vice chairman Mohammad Karam, Secretary General Obaid Al-Osaimi, Treasurer Essa Bu-Taiban, Assistant Secretary Engr Mohammad AlGhurba as well as representatives from concerned state ministries. Al-Otaibi said this tournament will qualify winners to the youth Olympic games to be held in China, as 45 countries already expressed their wish to participate bringing the number of shooters to 600, compared with last year’s tournament in which 33 countries were present.
He said many countries were motivated to participate because the tournament holds the name of HH the Amir with its outstanding shooters who made several achievements at the Olympic and international levels, in addition to Kuwait shooters who are well known around the world. He said Kuwait Shooting Club was very active, under the leadership of its President Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud AlSabah, who is President of the Asian Shooting Confederation and ISSF Vicepresident, in organizing international and regional tournaments that received praise from all.
Al-Otaibi said it is expected to have 26 countries participating from Africa, Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, in addition to other countries who will send shooters to specially participate in this particular event. He said that the President of ASC instructed that a preparatory camp be held for participating shooters under the supervision of international coaches, as a support from him to Arab and Asian shooters. He said the mission of Kuwait Shooting Club is to strengthen relations between Kuwait and other countries in the field of the shooting sport while working on developing the technical and administrative aspects. Al-Otaibi thanked representative of government ministries and authorities for their support to make this tournament a success.