Asian Games: Dragonfly Robs Kuwait Shooter Fehaid al-Deehani of Gold
The dragonfly is often associated with good luck, but Fehaid al-Deehani said it abandoned him at the Games shooting range.
A dragonfly twice danced on the shotgun of Olympic shooting medalist Fehaid al-Deehani as he was about to fire gold medal shots at the Asian Games and the Kuwaiti shooter believes he was robbed.
The dragonfly is often associated with good luck, but al-Deehani said it abandoned him at the Games shooting range.
The 47-year-old led throughout Sunday's qualifying round for the men's trap. But in the gold medal match against China's Gao Bo, he got only 12 targets out of 15 while Gao held his nerve for a title-winning perfect score.
On Thursday, a similar drama unfolded. Al-Deehani, who won bronze medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2012 Games in London, took on China's Hu Binyuan in the men's double trap final.
Hu missed the first two of his 30 targets giving a clear advantage to al-Deehani. But again the Kuwaiti missed at the end, letting a certain gold medal to slip out of his grasp for a second time.
Asked if he has a mental block against Chinese shooters, al-Deehani said: "It's nothing but bad luck. As I readied to shoot, a dragonfly came and sat on the barrel. That disrupted my attention and I missed.
"I couldn't believe that the same thing happened in the men's trap on Sunday as well," he added.
"I have watched the video twice already and one can clearly see the dragonfly come and sit on my gun just when I called for the shot.
"It was too late and I had to shoot. I took it and missed. This has happened in both finals. I suppose one needs that extra element of luck to win," he added.