Al Ain 2025 Review: Paris 2024 stars shine, new champions emerge

The final World Cup of the season wrapped up in style as Paralympic stars including Paris 2024 medallists shone while new champions emerged at a familiar venue.

The Zayed Higher Organisation Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club hosted 213 athletes from 39 nations competing across 40 individual and team events in rifle, pistol and shot gun disciplines.

Complete results can be found here.

Local stars

Home heroes Abdulla Sultan Alaryani and Mohammed Alhebsi, para trap shooter, lived up to the expectation winning the gold in their respective events.

Alaryani, a two-time Paralympic champion, claimed UAE’s two gold medals at the 2022 World Championships in Al Ain (R6 and R7). He returned to his home venue in Al Ain to win the gold in R7 - men's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 on 453.9. 

Meanwhile, Alhebsi wrapped up a remarkable season with another gold medal, winning the PT1 - Mixed Trap Seated SG-S. The UAE shooter had clinched the PT1 world title at the Para Trap World Championships in Brno, Czechia in September. His victory, which came with a new world record, marked the first gold for UAE in Para Trap Worlds.

Changwon 2025 silver medallist Ahmad Buhaleeba ended the season with a gold medal at the PT3 - mixed trap standing finals. In PT2 - mixed trap SG-L, Slovakia’s Filip Marinov, another Brno 2025 medallist, impressed with his shooting skills as he equalled the seven-year-old world record mark of Italy, Raffaele Talamo, with 44 points.

Meanwhile, women shooter Ayesha Almehairi claimed a silver in R4 - mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2 with an impressive 252.2 behind Great Britain’s Ryan Cockbill (254.2).

Ready for the final two days of action at #AlAin2025 💪
Full results 🔗 https://t.co/lWUTWchCg5#ShootingParaSport pic.twitter.com/xmYfkBfrAq

— Shooting Para Sport (@ShootingPara) November 2, 2025

Paralympic stars

Among top names in the field, two-time Paralympic gold medallist and India’s only female Paralympic champion, Avani Lekhara clinched the gold in R2- women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 displaying her class yet again. The Indian shooting star shot 10.6 and 10.5 points for 249.6 in the last end to claim the gold ahead of seasoned star and Paris 2024 medallist from Sweden Anna Benson (249.3) in a thrilling R2 finals.

Benson, meanwhile, claimed the gold in R8 - women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 with 462 points.

Another Paris 2024 silver medallist from India, Manish Narwal closed the season with a gold in P1 - men's 10m air pistol SH1 finals. Narwal, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist in P4, shot a 239.1 to finish ahead of his compatriot Angrej Singh, a little-known player who has played in national championships in India. Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Akash clinched the gold in P4 - mixed 50m pistol SH1.

Slovakia’s Radoslav Malenovsky, who shone with a new world record en route to R1 gold at last month’s 2025 WSPS European Championships, topped the podium of R3 - mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 in Al Ain. The Paris 2024 silver medallist scored 253.2 for the gold. 

Among other Paris 2024 medallists, Kazakhstan’s Yerkin Gabbasov shot an incredible 250.6 to take the R1 - men's 10m air Rifle standing SH1 gold ahead of Radoslav (249.8). 

Focus, take a deep breath, and aim for the center of the target 🧘‍♀️

Full results from #AlAin2025 🔗 https://t.co/lWUTWchCg5#ShootingParaSport pic.twitter.com/CZMJoqoma8

— Shooting Para Sport (@ShootingPara) November 3, 2025

New champions

Great Britain’s Ryan Cockbill, bronze medallist at Al Ain 2022 Worlds, had an amazing run in Al Ain - he shone with double gold medals in R4 - mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2 and R5 - mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2, respectively. 

There were some new names appearing on the medal standings, too. 

Thailand’s Ittipat Maneejak (248.9) and Atidet Intanon (250.0) were crowned the champions in R9 - mixed 50m rifle prone SH2 and R6 - mixed 50m rifle prone SH1, respectively.

Among women, Iran’s Nasrin Shahi Samakhoun emerged the winner in P2 - women's 10m air pistol SH1, an event which has been dominated by her senior compatriot Sareh Javanmardi for more than a decade now. Samakhoun’s 239.0 was followed by young Bhakti Sharma of India whose 236.8 effort was a world junior record.