RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Kuwait's Fehaid al-Deehani, competing at the Rio Games as an independent athlete, won men's double trap gold on Wednesday.

Marco Innocenti of Italy took silver with British shooter Steven Scott claiming the bronze. Al-Deehani, bronze medallist in Sydney and London, was forced to take part in Brazil as a neutral as Kuwait is suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other leading federations such as FIFA, football's world body, over government interference in sport.

The army officer is one of nine competing as an Independent Olympic Athlete (IOA).

He turned down an offer from the IOC to carry the neutral's flag at last Friday's opening ceremony, telling Kuwaiti media: "I am a military man and I will only carry the Kuwait flag. "I cannot carry the IOC flag."

Al-Deehani, who has won Kuwait's only two Olympic medals, is the first independent to win gold at an Olympics.