Braithwaite pips Goodluck to be champion marksman
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
April 25, 2003

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ONE bull’s eye decided the West Indies champion marksman with Guyana’s Lennox Braithwaite pipping fellow countryman Ransford Goodluck in the individual shoot of the West Indies Full Bore rifle championship at the Timehri Ranges yesterday.

On a day when both the wind and light created havoc with aiming, Braithwaite shot in the first detail at the 1 000 yards range under less rough conditions, while Goodluck shot in the second when the wind was doing its worst.

At the end of the competition, both shooters were deadlocked on 530 points in the Grand Aggregate, but Braithwaite had 37 bulls and Goodluck 36. For the second consecutive year, Goodluck lost the title on bull count. Last year in Trinidad & Tobago, Mahendra Persaud beat him by four bulls.

The 1999 champion at the very Timehri Ranges, Norris Gomez of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), was third with 527 points and 26 bulls, while the immediate past champion Guyanese Mahendra Persaud shot up a storm on the last day, to place fourth with a 522 tally and 28 bulls.

Others in the top ten are: Clarion Tang-Choon (T&T) on 517 points and 24 bulls, John Fong-Yew (T&T) 515 and 20, Keith Hammond (Jamaica) 513 and 25, David Rickman (Jamaica) 511 and 30, Dane Blair (Guyana), 511 and 16, and Richard Fields 509 and 23.

The first shoot at the 500 yards was less hostile and Braithwaite scored the maximum 50 points off his ten counting shots, the only possible at that range, along with six bulls.

Gomez was third with 48 and three, Persaud eighth with 48 and three and Goodluck tenth with 47 and four.

At the 600 yards range, Goodluck and Marc Homer hit the maximum 35 points, along with four bulls, with Dane Blair also getting a possible and two bulls.

Six persons had 34 points, among them Persaud who was eighth, while Braithwaite was 20th with 32 and four.

Then at the deciding 1 000 yards range, Persaud turned out to be the man with the eagle’s eye, hitting 95 points with two bulls, while Gomez was sixth on 89 and no bulls, Braithwaite eighth on 88 and no bulls and Goodluck 13th on 85 and one bull.

Persaud was Day 3 winner with 177 points and seven bulls, Gomez second on 171 and six, and Braithwaite third on 170 and ten bulls.

The others in the day’s top ten were: Carl Smith (Jamaica) 170 and nine, Tang-Choon 170 and seven, Canute Coley (Jamaica) 169 and 12, Hammond 168 and eight, Fong-Yew 168 and eight, Goodluck 167 and nine and Blair 166 and seven.

Goodluck was the champion of the Short Range, amassing 249 points and 29 bulls, followed by Gomez on 247 and 20, Braithwaite 246 and 30, and Tang-Choon 246 and 20.

Braithwaite took the Long Range title, with 284 points and seven bulls, followed by Goodluck 281 and seven, Persaud 280 and 8 and Gomez 280 and six.

The West Indies team for the World Long Range championships in Bisley, United Kingdom in July, was selected yesterday after the individual shoots, with the long range performers featuring in the list.

Teams members will practise together today, and tomorrow the first team shoot for the Singer Cup will be staged.

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