Khaled Al-Mudhaf ( ar, خالد المضف; born 12 June 1978) is a Kuwaiti

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

. He captured the men's trap title at the 2002 ISSF World Championships in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, 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.

Career

Al-Mudhaf's Olympic debut came at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

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 Giovanni Pellielo (born 11 January 1970) is an Italian sport shooter. He won the silver medal in Men's trap at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also earned a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and a silver medal in the 2004 Summer ...

. 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

. 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 Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, and was eventually selected to compete in his second Games. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, 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. 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. 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 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, and then upgraded to silver at the 2010 Asian Games in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, attaining total scores of 128 and 137 clay pigeons respectively.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mudhaf, Khaled 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Kuwait City Kuwaiti male sport shooters Olympic shooters for Kuwait Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Kuwait Asian Games silver medalists for Kuwait Asian Games bronze medalists for Kuwait Shooters at the 1998 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games Shooters at the 2010 Asian Games Shooters at the 2014 Asian Games Shooters at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in shooting Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Olympic shooters as Independent Olympic Participants Trap and double trap shooters