Persaud shoots his way to Queensway national title

Persaud ended with a grand aggregate of 344 and 29 V-Bulls.

Mahendra Persaud

The win saw Persaud carting off the lion’s share of trophies that were up for grabs.

He won the Valladares Trophy, the Leslie Dowridge Memorial Trophy, the Lushington Trophy (7 Round aggregate), the Wood Davis Trophy (10 Round Aggregate) the Denise Carryl (Long Range Aggregate) and the Sigmund Douglas Grand Aggregate Trophy to go with the Queensway Trophy.

Persaud, who led from the first day to the last, prevailed over defending champion Ransford Goodluck who was second.

Undoubtedly the two best shooters in the country, Persaud took the first day’s honours only to see Goodluck come roaring back to trail by a point after taking the second day honours.

Yesterday it was all to shoot for and Persaud duly won the “X” class shooting competition with a score of 129 and 10 V-bulls to be crowned 2010 National Full bore champion.

“Beating Goodluck is no mean achievement. He is a damn good shot. He lives for rifle shooting,” Persaud said.

He added that after he lost to Goodluck last year his fans questioned the defeat but he said he told them that “losing to Ransford is not a disgrace as he is one of the finest shooters in the Caribbean.”

Shooting at 500 yards, Persaud shot a “possible” 35 with 4 V-bulls for first place in that range.

He then shot 48 with 4 V-bulls for another first place at 600 yards with the wind changing quickly at times and then shot 46:2 at the 1000 yards range for second place to Dane Blair who shot 46 with three V-bulls.

Goodluck who trailed his Commonwealth Games teammate (Persaud) by one point going into yesterday’s shoot, could not make up ground after he shot a total of 127 with 5V-Bulls with scores of 34:2, 47:2 and 46:1 respectively.

He was third at 600 and second at 1,000 yards respectively.

Lennox Braithwaite remained in third position after shooting 120 with 6 V-Bulls – 34:2; 47:4 and 39:0 placing second at the 500 and 600 yards.

The Full-bore captain said despite the wind which was tricky on occasions he is of the opinion that all the shooters shot below par.

“I think we all could have done better although the conditions were no featherbed,” he said.

Peter Persaud continued his fine shooting to capture the “O” class Grand aggregate and gain his first lien on the Archie White Memorial trophy.

He shot his first ever 10 round possible 50:5 V-Bulls at 600 yards.

Peter Persaud ended yesterday’s shoot with a total of 130 and 9 V-bulls.

Like his namesake, Mahendra, Peter Persaud carted off the bulk of the prizes namely the three ranges and the day’s aggregate. He shot 34:1, 50:5 and 46:3.

According to Mahendra Persaud, he is a dedicated shooter and one for the future.

The Grand aggregate ended as follows

“X” class
Mahendra Persaud         –     344:29
Ransford Goodluck        –     341: 21
Lennox Braithwaite        –     329: 19
John Fraser             –     325:14
Ryan Sampson             –     319:14
Claude Duguid             –     317: 08
Dane Blair            –     313: 20
(Blair had to retire at 600 after his rifle malfunctioned)

“O” Class Grand aggregate
Peter Persaud             –     329: 16
Terry Stuart             –      291:13
Charles Deane             –     248: 05

He was followed by Lt. Col Terrence Stuart who was second at all the ranges and the day’s aggregate having shot 31:2- , 44:3 and 36:0.