Vincent Hancock displays his skills at shotgun range, clinches gold in men's skeet at Olympics 2021 

Vincent Hancock of the United States of America overcame an anxious moment in qualification before winning gold in the men’s skeet at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday. It was Vincent's third Olympic gold after Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

In the final, Vincent scored 59 points out of 60 shots. It was an Olympic record.

Denmark's Jesper Hansen, the last and sixth shooter to qualify for the final, shot 55 points to take home the silver medal.

The main attraction of the competition, however, was 57-years-old Abdullah Al-Rashidi from Kuwait who won bronze with 46 points. He had also won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It was Abdullah’s seventh appearance at the Olympic Games, having made his debut in Atlanta 1996.

The intense qualification round was spread over two days. On the first day, competitors had to shoot three rounds of 25 clay targets and two rounds of 25 targets on the second. The top six in qualification advanced into the medal round.

Vincent shot a perfect score of 25 points each in the first four rounds to lead the field of 30 shooters. However, something went wrong and he missed three clay targets, scoring 22 points in the fifth and final round for an aggregate of 122 points in qualification.

Since six other shooters also shot an identical score of 122 points, a shoot-off was necessary to break the deadlock.

Vincent won the tie-shot to earn fourth place while Al-Rashidi was fifth. Hansen was the last shooter to qualify for the final.

Three shooters, including Jakub Tomecek of the Czech Republic, who was seventh, couldn't make the final as they lost in the tie-shot.

Amber English

It was a double delight for the USA team as Amber English won the women’s skeet title with an Olympic record score of 56. Italy's Diana Bacosi won silver with a score of 55.

China’s Meng Wei, who topped qualification with 124, won a bronze medal. She scored 46 in the final.

India's Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot 120 in men's qualification but failed to advance to the final. He shot a series of 24, 25, 24, 24 and 23.

Mairaj Ahmad Khan, another Indian shooter in the fray, also failed to make the cut for the final. He shot 117 in qualification (25, 24, 22, 23 and 23).