Guyana’s rifle shooters produced their best ever performance at the Commonwealth Games but officials are convinced that better results can be secured in the future if the necessary resources are available to the shooters.
Speaking at a Media Briefing yesterday at Olympic House, Team Manager Paul Slowe said the local pair of Ransford Goodluck and Mahendra Persaud raised eyebrows with their precision shooting and proved to be a force to be reckoned during the Commonwealth Games shooting in which Guyana placed fifth overall in the pairs competition from 21 competing countries.
“I am convinced that our shooters could match the rest of the world but they need constant exposure, we do get some support but given the nature and cost of the sport much more assistance is needed,” the former Assistant Commissioner of police said.
He said competitors competing at those levels of competition attend most of the major events around the world as part of their preparation but the local shooters do not have the resources to attend most.
Slowe said the electronic targets used at the Games posed serious technical problems to all the shooters but despite the challenges of the targets the range facilities were fantastic.
According to the team manager, Guyana silenced some of the big shooting nations including Australia, South Africa and Canada in placing fifth, noting that Guyana’s score was challenging to eventual winners New Zealand.
Slowe noted that the local shooters also performed extremely well in the individual competition with Guyana and Caribbean individual champion Goodluck stumbling on the final day after remarkable shooting earlier.
Persaud who is also the national fullbore captain said that their training stint at Bisley in the United Kingdom in July was very helpful to the team’s preparation.
Slowe posited that it was extremely necessary for the Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) to acquire its own Clubhouse – an issue that has been in the pipeline for several years now.
He said approaches were made to the relevant authorities to be given a plot of land in a suitable location but the venues identified were too far from the city to be considered.
Slowe disclosed that it was already a tedious exercise for shooters to travel to Timehri to shoot and the Association would appreciate receiving land close to Georgetown.
He remarked that in many parts of the world shooting ranges are in the heart of the capital and they are used to provide training as well to licensed firearm holders.
The officials at the press conference said that the goal of the GNRA is to carry of momentum of 2010 into next year’s Caribbean Rifle Shooting championships slated for Antigua/Barbuda a first time host of the regional tournament.
Guyana have won the regional championships for four consecutive years and will be looking for a fifth title in Antigua.Persaud said in this regard, the National Rifle shooting championships will be staged from November 12-14 at the Timehri Rifle ranges.
He disclosed that two overseas-based Guyanese riflemen John Fraser and Sigmund Douglas have indicated their interesting in the nationals. GNRA Secretary Ryan Sampson took the opportunity to thank LIAT and Caribbean Airlines for given concession to local shooters for their extra baggage weight.
He also expressed gratitude to the Guyana Police Force, Customs Department and Correia Group of Companies for their assistance.
The officials made a plea to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to provide the Association with a duty free letter so that they could clear ammunition recently purchased from overseas that will be used for the National championships in three weeks time .
