Two UAE shooters, Saif bin Futtais and Mohammed Ahmed, failed to reach the men's individual skeet final at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday. Bin Futtais finished qualifying with a score of 117 across five rounds, missing the cut for the top eight by a single target. Ahmed also completed the qualifying stage, posting a score of 113, and did not advance either.
Topping the qualifying standings were Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Taiwan's Meng-yuan Lee and China's Jianlin Lyu, who tied on a score of 120 to comfortably book their places in the final. The narrow margin by which Bin Futtais missed out will sting for UAE shooting fans, given that a single additional hit would have secured his spot among the finalists.
The Nagoya-Aichi 2026 Asian Games rank among the continent's largest multi-sport events, with the UAE fielding a sizeable delegation across numerous disciplines, including shooting. Skeet shooting is an Olympic discipline that has received increasing investment in the UAE's sports development programmes in recent years, and the presence of both Bin Futtais and Ahmed in the qualifying field reflects that growing focus.
Despite falling short this time, observers note that the closeness of the UAE athletes' results could serve as motivation for sharper preparation ahead of future competitions. China continues to lead the overall medal table of this year's Asian Games by a wide margin, underlining the scale of competition facing Gulf delegations at the Games.