- looking to put disappointments of regional tournament behind them
Despite their success at the just-concluded West Indies fullbore championships in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana’s rifle shooters have expressed disappointment at several aspects of the regional tournament.

Members of the victorious Guyana team to this year’s Caribbean Rifle-Shooting championships in Trinidad and Tobago. (Photo courtesy of Mahendra Persaud)

They have, however decided to put those aspects behind them and will now shift their focus to next year’s regional and international events.
Fullbore captain Mahendra Persaud said that 2010 will be a very busy year for rifle shooters with several international events planned including the Commonwealth Games in India.
Guyana retained the West Indies short range title at the championships held recently at Tucker Valley in the Twin Island Republic but several senior shooters opted out of the individual competition including defending champion Ransford Goodluck.

The main bone of contention was the shortage of ammunition in the initial stage of the tournament.
According to Persaud when ammunition became available the hardware was found to be over 25 years old.
“We were told initially that the Trinidad Rifle Association did not have the Horandy match ammunition and were awaiting approval from the State Department in the United States for clearance.

The visiting captains were very upset when we were told later that we would have to shoot with military TZ equipment which was manufactured back in 1983, 1984,” Persaud disclosed.

The ammunition  snag forced the organizers to stage the team match three days earlier than planned and shifted the individual competition to later in the programme after they managed to source some quality ammunition for the team match.

After the ammunition failed to arrive from the USA, several senior shooters opted out of the individual competition.
Two Guyanese shooters finished in the top 10 with Ryan Sampson finishing sixth overall while Dane “Spooky” Blair ended 10th.
Blair also won the 600-yard event on day three.

Richard Fields and US-based Guyanese John Fraser and Dylan Fields also secured places in the top three during the three-day individual shoot off.
Persaud said one of the high points of the regional event was the performance of Antigua/Barbuda.

He said the Antiguans attended with a full team for the first time and they have made strides in the development of the sport in the Eastern Caribbean twin-island.
“The Antiguans have established a range on the island and we have plans to attend a Goodwill tournament there ahead of next year’s regional tournament scheduled for Barbados,” he remarked.

According to Persaud the local shooters will resume their regular weekly tournament at the Timehri ranges next month while he and Richard Fields will travel to the United Kingdom to compete in the Annual championships at Bisley, the Mecca of international rifle shooting.

The National Senior and Junior championships will be staged later this year at Timehri, the second time the event will be staged in one year after last year’s planned championships were held earlier this year.

“We will be looking forward to be represented at the Commonwealth Games billed October 2010 in India in addition there will be a tournament in Canada in which we will be making every effort to attend, so 2010 will be a very busy year for us,” said Persaud.

He said that Dylan Fields has emerged as one of the shooters who shown tremendous potential and would be one of the riflemen to lookout for in the future.
Guyana’s contingent at this year’s regional tournament included three US-based shooters; John Fraser, Sigmund Douglas and former vice captain Derick Narine.