GUYANA rifle shooters were edged out by their Jamaican counterparts by a narrow two points in the West Indies Fullbore Rifle Shooting Short Range match for the prestigious Anchor Cup at the regional championships that ended Saturday in Antigua/Barbuda. The Guyanese shooters were going after a sixth successive regional short range title but fell to the Jamaicans who had missed last year’s championships in Barbados.
The Jamaicans shot a total aggregate of 1127 with 67 V-bulls while Guyana came in with 1125 with 74 Vs in the match held over the 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges.
Trinidad and Tobago finished a distant third with 1109.64 followed by host Antigua/Barbuda in fourth with 1101.64 and Barbados fifth on 1074.38.
Guyanese Lennox Braithwaite who shot 147 points with 14 Vs won the Wogart Trophy for shooting the highest individual score in the team match.
The Guyana shooters and scores in the team match were: Captain Mahendra Persaud (146.10), Lennox Braithwaite (147.14), Ransford Goodluck (140.12), John Fraser (140.8), Dylan Fields (140.7), Sigmund Douglas (139.9), Inspector Dane Blair (137.5) and Ryan Sampson (136.9).
Team captain Persaud expressed disappointment in the team’s defeat citing a few issues that contributed to the loss.
Persaud offered congratulations to the Antigua National Rifle Association for staging a well run first tournament at the regional level.
Meanwhile, Ryan Sampson, ACP Rt’d. Paul Slowe and Persaud were returned unopposed to the West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council following elections held during the tournament.
Sampson retained the honorary-secretary position while Slowe was retained as one of five vice-presidents representing each territory. Persaud was also retained as a committee member.
The 2012 regional championships will be hosted by Guyana at the Timehri Rifle Ranges. However, the date is still to be finalised.