The Abu Dhabi International Shooting Championship “Grand Prix” competitions will begin on Sunday morning, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, representative of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi in the Al Ain region, and will continue until January 30 on the fields of the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club.
165 male and female shooters representing 26 countries will participate in the tournament, with prize money amounting to $300,000, in one of the highest international tournaments in terms of prize value.
The organizing committee of the tournament held a press conference in the presence of the President of the International Shooting Federation, Luciano Rossi, the technical director of the tournament, Mohammed Wahdan, and the tournament director, Saif Al Nuaimi.
The conference was also attended by Major General Hazem Hosni, President of the Egyptian and African Federations, Pierre Donato, Secretary-General of the International Sporting Shooting Federation, and a number of Shooting Federation officials and media professionals.
The President of the UAE Shooting Federation, Major General Mohammed Suhail Al Neyadi, said that organizing this tournament comes at the beginning of the new Olympic period of the Board of Directors, stressing that the Federation seeks to strengthen the presence of UAE shooting on the international scene and qualify for the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Al Neyadi added that hosting this event reflects the development witnessed by the sport of shooting in the UAE, pointing out the importance of international contact and the presence of an elite group of the most prominent symbols of the game in the world.
For his part, the President of the International Shooting Federation, Luciano Rossi, praised the UAE organization, expressing his aspiration to expand areas of cooperation with the UAE Shooting Federation in a way that contributes to developing the game at the regional and international levels.
In turn, Muhammad Wahdan, the technical director of the tournament, described the level of organization as “excellent,” pointing to the competitive atmosphere and warm reception, which he considered a constant feature of the tournaments held in the Emirates.