Nasser Al-Attiyah, the renowned five-time Dakar Rally champion, achieved an astonishing feat at the Asian Games, where he secured two shooting medals without any prior training.
Despite his packed schedule as a rally driver, the 52-year-old Qatari athlete managed to claim a silver medal in the men’s skeet team event and a bronze in the individual skeet competition in Hangzhou.
Al-Attiyah, who had previously clinched Asian Games gold in shooting in 2002 and 2010, attributed his success to experience rather than training. His demanding rally commitments left him with no time to practice shooting before the competition in China. He humorously mentioned, “When I am competing in rally driving, there is no skeet training. Nothing, zero training.” Yet his impressive Olympic track record, including a skeet bronze in London 2012, spoke to his innate talent.