The Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) has started preparations for its 150th Anniversary in 2017 and several international teams are expected to participate in a tournament to coincide with the sesquicentennial celebrations.
Secretary of the GNRA, Ryan Sampson said that invitations have been sent to shooting clubs in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and he indicated that several English clubs have already indicated their interest in competing.
Sampson who is also Secretary of the West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council (WIFSC) disclosed that the 2015 regional fullbore shooting tournament slated for Trinidad and Tobago has been cancelled due to the Trinidadians inability to host the event.
The focus will now be on the West Indies sending a strong team to the Palma World Long Range Shooting championships in the United States next year.
According to Sampson, a decision was made at the WIFSC Statutory Meeting in Jamaica earlier this year for the Trinidad Rifle Association (TRA) to host the event next year.
Sampson has since dispatched letter to regional associations to updating them of the situation.
The contents of the letter: “The West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council at its last statutory meeting in Jamaica in May 2014, had agreed that Trinidad and Tobago will host the WI Regional Championship in 2015. They were given until the end of August to decide if they will be accepting the offer. The alternate country was announced as Antigua and Barbuda.
We were informed by the TRA in late September that they definitely cannot host the WI Regional championship in 2015. This would give Antigua and Barbuda a very small window of time to start preparing, which would have been at their disadvantage to organize a well-run meet.
We had also looked at the possibility of sending a WI Team to the World Long Range Championships and Palma Match scheduled for Camp Perry in Ohio, USA in August 2015. The possible Team Members were announced at the presentation ceremony in Jamaica. The Palma plans have developed positively over the months.
The Captain of the WI Palma Team, Major John Nelson, is making plans which are becoming successful.
A large number of the team members have made themselves available for the Palma Match. The WI Council had decided in 2007 in Guyana, that in the year that the Palma Match is held, if there is a WI representative team, there will be no WI Regional Championship. In light of this new development, of TRA being unable to host, it has prompted the WIFBSC to make a definite decision to send a Team to the Palma Match. With this new position, the Regional Championship for 2015 was cancelled. This will allow full attendance of our shooters, as leave and financial limitations can affect the participation of the best possible WI Team at the Palma Match. I wish to therefore, regrettable inform all West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council affiliates, that the WI Regional Championships will not be held in 2015. “
Guyanese shooters named in the West Indies Palma squad are Mahendra Persaud who is the vice captain, Lennox Braithwaite, Ransford Goodluck, Dylan Fields and Sigmund Douglas.
Guyana will also be looking to send additional shooters to participate in the World Long Range Individual Competition.
Training will intensify for the local shooters at 800, 900 and 1000 yards ranges from January next year.
