THE Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) will be hosting the annual West Indies Fullbore Shooting Championship at the Timehri Rifle Ranges from October 7 to 15.
Yesterday the association held a press briefing where they revealed their plans for hosting the event which they budgeted at $5M.

Guyana enters the competition as favourites to secure the Team and Individual championships against Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda and Jamaica.
Team Guyana have won the team competition for six consecutive years and will be looking to repeat the feat this year. While they secured the individual competition four consecutive years up until last year where they lost to Jamaica by two points, they are still confident they can reclaim the title at home.
According to the secretary of the GNRA Ryan Sampson, preparations for the ranges have been ongoing for some time now with help from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). New rifle huts have been assembled and also target mechanisms put in place.
Team captain Mahendra Persaud said “I was kind of concerned about our team preparation but since our last practice session over the weekend I was able to sleep a bit more comfortably. Our team has been shooting together for a number of years so there are no new faces.”
“We are dependent on our players, US-based players John Fraser and Sigmond Douglas and Canadian-based Paul Archer who will be arriving on the weekend of the 5 – 7 as will the other teams,” Persaud said.
The team will be selected from a group of about ten players according to the captain but he would have liked to have about 13 players to choose from.
GNRA treasurer Lt. Col Terrence Stuart said that the association is quite a distance away from the complete budget but there have been partners that gave their continued support over the years that he is certain will come on board.
Col. Stuart disclosed that the GNRA is not an association that would attract a crowd to charge an entrance fee to benefit from, so the association depends heavily on donations and partnerships to get moving.
He extended his gratitude on behalf of the association to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Bank of Guyana, Banks DIH and a few others that have already lent a helping hand to the hosting of the event.
Meanwhile, the action gets under way from the October 9 with the 8-man Team Championships over the 300, 500, 600, 900 and 1000 yards ranges and will run until October 11.
From October 12 the Individual Competition for the Milex Cup will commence and the participants will be shooting over the 900 and 1000 yards ranges.
The competition then wraps up with the premier category which is the Short Range shooting which is shot over the 300, 500 and 6000 yards ranges.