Golden years continue

60-year-old shooter hits perfect score en route to yet another title

In 60 shots, with 60 hits, 60-year-old Olympic medalist Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait won gold in the men's skeet at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre on Wednesday, equaling Angad Vir Singh Bajwa's world record of 60 points.

With the perfect score, Alrashidi clinched Kuwait's first gold at the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games ahead of Indian shooter Anant Jeet Singh Naruka.

Naruka was born in 1998, the year the seasoned Kuwaiti shooter claimed his third world title.

"I am happy to win a fourth Asian Games gold medal because I am over 60 years old," the veteran shooter said after the competition. "Today I only missed one of 110 targets. This happens when you train every day, you exercise, go swimming, and eat well."

After turning 60 just last month, Alrashidi revealed the secret to his longevity is to sleep early and wake early, before executing a good, but challenging, training program devised to ensure future success.

"I don't look at my phone or Twitter, because this is not good for your eyes. I look after my body and my health," he said.

Alrashidi also won a silver medal in the skeet mixed team event on Thursday with his teammate Eman Alshamaa.

"He's great, he's always cheering me on after every round, and he's been supporting me daily," Alshamaa said.

Alshamaa and Alrashidi train together at the only shooting range in Kuwait every day. "So every day I am learning something new from him. He gives us a lot of tips and information," she said.

Alrashidi was introduced to shooting at 12 years old and he took up the sport competitively at age 25.

He first went to the desert to hunt with his father in the late 1970s. At this time there were no shooting ranges in Kuwait, so anyone who wanted to shoot would go to the desert, and a lot of them did, he recalled.

Alrashidi has been to seven consecutive Olympic Games, starting in Atlanta in 1996 and most recently, Tokyo in 2021. He represented Kuwait at six of them, and competed as an independent at the 2016 Rio Games.

Despite winning gold medals at the world championships and Asian Games, his best result at the Olympics was bronze in Rio and Tokyo.

When winning his bronze medal as an independent athlete at Rio 2016, Alrashidi wore an Arsenal FC football shirt without realizing the London team's nickname is the Gunners.

"This shirt is from England, but I didn't know the name (of the team) at the time. I like this club. It was a present from my son and he bought it for me," he said.

Alrashidi's son, Talal Alrashidi, is also competing at the Asian Games, taking part in both individual and team events for men's trap shooting. He placed seventh in the event at the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Alrashidi expressed his desire to continue shooting at the upcoming Paris Olympics and possibly even the 2028 Los Angeles Games. There's no doubt he'll be giving his all for his eighth Olympic appearance in Paris.

"He's a big inspiration — not only to my team, but for the whole world," said the Kuwait skeet coach Jakub Malek. "I believe he will keep going until he is 80, but he will say not. He's a very disciplined guy, so we can still expect more from him in the future."