The National Rifle shooting championships will fire off next weekend and Queensway is on board as a major sponsor, an official of the Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) has revealed.
Full-bore captain Mahendra Persaud confirmed that the retail and wholesale store will provide a trophy and financial support for the tournament which is likely to attract overseas participation.
Persaud said overseas-based Guyanese Sigmund Douglas and John Fraser who were members of Guyana’s regional full-bore championship team in Barbados earlier this year are expected from the United States to compete in the three-day to be staged from November 12-14 at the Timehri rifle ranges.
Officials say that the championships will be of a high standard with the two overseas players in contention as well as Ransford Goodluck and Persaud who were impressive for Guyana at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in India. The other major contenders for the title will include Richard and Dylan Fields, Dane Blair, Claude Duguid, Ryan Sampson, Lt. Col. Terrence Stuart, Charles Deane and Peter Persaud.
Goodluck is the current National and Caribbean individual shooting champion and he will be going all out to retain his title but is expected to receive still opposition.
On the opening day next Friday there will be shooting over 300 and 500 yards in addition, at stake will be the Valladares Trophy for the shooter with the best score at 500 yards.
The local sharpshooters will shoot over 300, 600 and 900 yards on day two while on the final day the action will be over 500, 600 and 1000 yards.
Among the prizes up for grabs are the Dowridge Memorial Trophy (300 yards aggregate in events 1 and 4), Lushington (seven round aggregate – events 1, 6 and 8), Wood Davis (10 round aggregate – events 2, 5 and 9), Wood Stock Aggregate (events 3, 5 and 9), Denise Carryl Trophy (long range aggregate – events 5, 6, 9 and 10) and the Sigmund Douglas Trophy (grand aggregate events 4, 7, 11).
Starting time each day is 10:00 hours.
Meanwhile, there will be a Practice Shoot on Sunday at Timehri ranges as the marksmen fine tune preparation for the National championships.