Malaysian skeet shooter Joseph Lee Joon Kit struggled in the opening round of competition at the Aichi Prefectural Shooting Range but remains in contention with two more days of qualifying ahead. Yesterday, Joseph scored 44 out of 50 targets, placing him six points behind the leader, Ahmed Mohammed of the United Arab Emirates, who achieved a perfect 50.

At 29 years old, Joseph is aiming to secure a spot in the final by finishing among the top eight over the course of the qualification rounds. His coach, Jeff Gan Kong Leong, acknowledged that the performance fell short of expectations but expressed confidence that Joseph can recover in the remaining stages.

“Joseph is shooting normally. After speaking with him, he seems fine,” Jeff said. “He made some careless errors that impacted his score, and this doesn’t reflect his true ability. He’s capable of scoring above 120 in the next two rounds.”

Jeff also noted a mechanical issue affected Joseph’s results during the initial round, where he had anticipated hitting 25 targets but only managed 23. The coach, a former national shotgun athlete himself, has been mentoring Joseph since the death of his previous coach, Richard Cheong, three years ago. Jeff has accompanied Joseph to major international events, including World Cups and the Asian Games.

Joseph took up skeet shooting at age 15 and has built a strong competitive record in recent years. He earned a bronze medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand and a silver medal at the Asian Shotgun Cup in Linfen, China. During the Asian Shotgun Cup, Joseph set a new national record by hitting 122 out of 125 targets in qualification.

With two days remaining in the qualification phase, Joseph will look to improve his performance and secure a place in the final round.