The stage is set for the 2013-2014 National Rifle Shooting championships which fire off today at the Timehri Rifle ranges at 10:00 hours as the nation’s leading rifle shooters battle for supremacy in the three-day competition.
Reigning champion Ransford Goodluck and current Caribbean Individual title holder Lennox Braithwaite will be going head to head for national honours but will face opposition from national captain and former champion Mahendra Persaud, Dylan Fields, Inspector Dane Blair and Ryan Sampson in “X” Class.
Goodluck had won the championships in April this year ahead of Guyana’s participation in the West Indies Fullbore championships staged in Barbados in May.
Leo Romalho is the reigning “O” Class champion but he has been out of action since the local team returned from Barbados. Other competitors in “O” Class will Lt. Col Terrance Stuart, Charles Deane, Everard Nelson and newcomer Sherwin Felicien.
Thirteen events are carded over the three days of competition which will continue next Saturday and end on November 17th at Timehri.
The first event will be at 300 yards with two seven rounds of shooting for a highest possible score (HPS) of 35 points.
Event number two will be over 500 yards for a HPS of 50 points and the prestigious Valladares Trophy, the symbol of shooting at 500 yards. The final event of the day will be at 900 yards for a HPS of 50 points.
The aggregate score will be 135 points with the shooter closest to that score being declared the first day winner.
Next Saturday the shooters will contest at 500, 600 and 900 yards ranges for a Highest Possible Score of 105 points while on the final day competition will be at 300, 600 and 1000 yards for a HPS of 150 points over the three ranges.
National captain Persaud said that the West Indies Fullbore championships will be held early next year in Jamaica so the local shooters have been in intense preparation for the regional tournament. Guyana and Jamaica share the regional long and short range titles.
