‘Gold was result of challenges, persistence to practice & win’

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 19, (Agencies): The Olympic shooting champion and gold medalist Fehaid Al-Deehani indicated that he was supposed to win seven Olympic medals instead of three during his journey with the sport but he faced problems and obstacles that forced him to stop practicing the sport for four years.

Al-Deehani said he had disagreements with the relevant sport association which stopped him from continuing the practice and realizing achievements after he won a bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics 16 years ago.

He revealed that he even did not participate in the Beijing Olympics until Sheikh Salman Sabah Salem Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah requested him to return to the sport in 2010 when he was the President of Kuwait Shooting Federation, affirming that he is indebted to Sheikh Salman for his success.

In an interview with an Emirati newspaper, Al-Deehani explained that his preparation for Rio Olympics was very difficult. He spent eight hours every day for shooting practice, five hours on body fitness and three hours on cultural exploration, reading about diet, nutrition and psychological aspects beneficial for those practicing this sport as well as information on the competitors, ways of training and many other things.

He affirmed that the gold medal he won was the result of the challenges he faced inside and outside Kuwait and his persistence to practice and win after refraining from practicing the sport for four complete years.

Al-Deehani said, “The gold medal I won at the Rio Olympics is the highest achievement I have accomplished so far in my life especially since it came at a very difficult time. I was disappointed at the time of receiving the medal because the flag of my country was not raised.”

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