Khaled Al-Mudhaf

Khaled Al-Mudhaf

Personal information
Full name	Khaled Al-Mudhaf
Nationality	Kuwait
Born	12 June 1978 Kuwait City, Kuwait
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 4 ^1⁄2 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Sport
Sport	Shooting
Event(s)	Trap (TR125)
Club	Kuwait City Shooting Club[1]
Coached by	Rustam Yambulatov[1]
Medal record Men's shooting Competitor for  Kuwait Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou TR125 2006 Doha TR125 World Championships 2002 Lahti TR125

Khaled Al-Mudhaf (Arabic: خالد المضف‎; born June 12, 1978 in Kuwait City) is a Kuwaiti sport shooter.^[2] He captured the men's trap title at the 2002 ISSF World Championships in Lahti, Finland, and finished in the top six respectively on two successive editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Apart from his World championship title, Al-Mudhaf also collected fourteen more medals to his career record, including two from the Asian Games (a silver in Guangzhou 2010 and a bronze in Doha 2006). Al-Mudhaf is a member of the Kuwait City Shooting Club, where he trains full time under Russian-born coach Rustam Yambulatov.^[1][3]

Al-Mudhaf's Olympic debut came at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he placed fourth in the men's trap with a total score of 139, just a single clay away from the bronze medal won by Italy's Giovanni Pellielo.^[4][5][6]

Two years later, Al-Mudhaf reached the peak of his sporting career by claiming his first individual gold in a major international competition at the 2002 ISSF World Championships in Lahti, Finland. He hit a total of 146 targets to outplay the rest of the finalists field, including Pellielo and Olympic champion Michael Diamond for the trap title. Coming atop the podium, Al-Mudhaf also assured an Olympic quota for his native Kuwait, and was eventually selected to compete in his second Games.^[7]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Al-Mudhaf qualified for his second Kuwaiti team in the men's trap, after having achieved a minimum qualifying score of 122 from his top finish at the Worlds two years earlier.^[1][8] As one of the favorites vying for the Olympic medal in the sporting event, Al-Mudhaf put up another top-level effort with a qualifying score of 121 to take the fourth seed in the six-man finals, but fell out of the medals dismally to last under pressure after missing more targets than any other shooter in the field, finishing only with 141 hits.^[9][10]

After a disappointing Olympic feat, Al-Mudhaf came back to his noble form to pick up the bronze medal in the individual trap at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, and then upgraded to silver at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, attaining total scores of 128 and 137 clay pigeons respectively.^[11][12]

References

1. "ISSF Profile – Khaled Al-Mudhaf". ISSF. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
2. "Khaled Al-Mudhaf". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
3. "Khaled Al Mudhaf - World Champion Trap Shooter". Men's Passion. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
4. "Sydney 2000: Shooting – Men's Trap" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 70–71. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
5. "Three for the Arabs". Al-Ahram Weekly. 4 October 2000. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
6. "Peel wins second GB medal". BBC Sport. 17 September 2000. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
7. "Anwer Sultan strikes gold". Sportstar. 13 September 2002. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
8. "Shooting 2004 Olympic Qualification" (PDF). Majority Sports. p. 10. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
9. "Shooting: Men's Trap Final". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
10. "Shooter Khaled Al-Mudhaf apologizes for losing in Olympics". Kuwait News Agency. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
11. "Asian Games: Another golden day for Chinese athletes in Doha". Taipei Times. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
12. "Kuwaiti shooter Al-Mudhaf dedicates Asian medals to his country". Kuwait News Agency. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2015.

External links

• Khaled Al-Mudhaf at the International Shooting Sport Federation