Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

After five days of intense competition Guyana emerged as overall winners of the of the West Indies Fullbore Rifle Shooting competition, hosted by the Jamaica Rifle Association at the Twickenham Park, Jamaica Defence Force range on Sunday.

Guyana, who have won the tournament four times in the past five years, sealed the Milex Long Range Cup with 748.55 points, with Jamaica placing second at 704.42 and Barbados hot on their heels only 7.01 points behind at 697.41.

Captain of the Guyanese team, Mahendra Persaud, stated that despite the difference in climatic conditions, his team remained focused and had not allowed complacency to set in.

"We knew we had to keep shooting well as Jamaica has a very good team. Thankfully, we kept it together and fought hard to ensure that we did not lose," Persaud said.

Mere difference

Jamaica placed second again for the Wray and Nephew-sponsored Anchor Cup for short range distances, but this time the points difference with Guyana was a mere 5.003. The final score being Guyana 1148.108 with Jamaica 1143.105. Trinidad placed third with 1107.74.

With these two wins, the Mitsubishi Motors-sponsored grand aggregate went to Guyana who had a total score of 1896.193. Other scores were: Jamaica 1847.147; Trinidad and Tobago 1801.120; Barbados 1787.109 and Antigua and Barbuda 1625.67. Bermuda did not field a team.

Jamaica's Maj. (Ret) D. John Nelson retained the coveted Worgath Cup as the best short-range shooter. Nelson, his compatriot Ronald 'Junior' Brown and Guyana's Ransford Goodluck all finished with 148 points. Nelson scored 19 V-bulls to clip his rivals. The target is split into several scoring zones with the V-bull having the highest points value.

This was the first time in the history of the Worgath Cup that V-bulls distinguished the eventual winner.

Good performances

The London and Middlesex Rifle Club, who participated in the shoot, but were not eligible for the trophies, performed well as their points placed them just behind Guyana in the long-range events with 740.64, and third in the short-range behind Jamaica with 1128.114 points. This performance gave them second place in the overall team aggregate.

Guyana's Ransford Goodluck and Dylan Fields emerged as top X-Class individual shooters from the region. Goodluck's second-place score was 388.033 and Fields' 385.028 earned him third place.

The event's top shooter was Andrew Wilde from the London and Middlesex Rifle Club (LMRC), who gained top score of 390.046. Jamaica's Jose Nunes was sixth, with a score of 379.028, Carl Smith was ninth with 378.021 and Nelson and Brown tied for tenth place with 377.035.

Wilde, in an interview with The Gleaner, stated that he had hoped to do reasonably well in the championships.

"It was very difficult dealing with the local weather conditions but I got it right, and it feels good to have remained focused and in control of my game," he said.

In the 'O' Class, Michael Gill from Trinidad had the highest score with 367.021, followed by Terene Stewart with 352.018 from Guyana and Christopher Josephs of Antigua and Barbuda with 345.019.

In the Tyro (T) class Anderson Perry from Antigua and Barbuda gained 366.02 followed by Anthony Evans of Bermuda with 366.009.