WEST Indies Fullbore Shooting Council (WIFBSC) Long and Short Range defending champions Guyana have recommenced preparation for their title defence.

The Guyana National Rifle Association (GuyanaNRA) will celebrate its 150th Anniversary this year and will host the championships and celebrations from October 9 to 15.
Fullbore captain Mahendra, who has been at the helm of this nation’s dominance throughout the region, has disclosed that team practice will continue to be the focus of the region’s marksmen.
Next month’s competition will see participation from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, USA, Scotland, Wales and the Falkland Islands.
The last team practice session took place on Sunday at the Timehri Rifle Range and Persaud said that the scores recorded were impressive and augurs well for the upcoming 150th championships.
Persaud and countryman Lennox Braithwaite recently returned from competing at the Canadian National Championships. Their participation was partly funded by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
The duo recorded some impressive scores, Persaud reported, while both recorded four possibles each while notching scores of one off – 49 and 74s.
Persaud’s four possibles were 75:7 in the Army and Navy shoot where he won the silver medal with this shoot losing out on the Gold by a single V.
He shot 50:6 in the Macdougal 300 metres, 50:4 at the Macdougal 500 yards and 50:4 at the Beckett 300 metres.
Braithwaite’s possible’s: 50:5 in the Macdougal 500 yards, 50:5 in the Brick 600 yards. In the Gibson 600 yards he shot 50:8 and 50:5 in the Hayhurst 500yards.
Persaud also had scores of 74:8 at the Long Range Challenge 1, 74:8 in the Ottawa Regiment, 74:11 at the LR Challenge 3, 49:7 in the Gooderham 500, 49:5 in the Gooderham 600, 49:7 in the Tilton 300m, 49:9 at the Beckett 800m, 49:3 in the Brick 600, 49:5 in the Gibson 600 and 74:4 in the Gatineau 900 metres.
Braithwaite’s one off scores recorded were 49:5 in the President’s 600 yards, 49:5 at the Macdougal 300 metres and 49:3 in the Tilton 300 metre.
The captain also related that Braithwaite, who did a course on re-loading ammunition a few years ago, did the reloading of ammunition alongside a former Guyana top marksman Paul Archer, who now resides in Toronto, Canada for the shooters to save on cost and to improve on accuracy.
“The reloads turned out to be fantastic and once done properly will improve accuracy and keep the cost of ammunition down. Reloading of target quality ammunition is being done by shooters from all over the world from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa, hence their dominance of target rifle-shooting.”
“It is, however, not being done in the Caribbean as yet. It brings the cost of shooting down by 50% where one round of factory-made ammunition could cost as much as US$1.50 to US$2.00.”
Participation in Canada, according to Persaud, forms part of the duo’s training for the Commonwealth Games next year in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
“We plan to go to the CSF in Australia immediately after our 150th since it is an exact course of fire as the CG 2018 and shot on the same range. Most of the other countries will be there having a test run. This was part of our training programme which was submitted to GOA, two years ago.”
Five shooters were initially shortlisted by the GuyanaNRA but it has now been whittled down to Persaud and Braithwaite who were this nation’s reps at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, two years ago.
At those games, the duo placed 6th in the Pairs event, finishing 5 points off the bronze medal.