WI Fullbore Championship: Guyanese Braithwaite poised to retain individual title

Following a challenging first day of shooting at the 2023 edition of the West Indies Fullbore Individual Shooting Championships at the Crabbs Rifle and Pistol Range in Antigua and Barbuda, the Guyanese shooters, led by defending champion, Lennox Braithwaite have all turned in better scores.

The first day, Tuesday saw Braithwaite trailing Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr.Varma Rambaran by a couple of points (154.13 to 152.10) in the battle for Caribbean supremacy with Canadian, Geoff Woodman in the lead (156.16).

The challenges were many for the shooters- the quality of the ammunition not being the best, coupled with challenging winds coming across the range consistently during the day.

While some of the shooters prospered, many were not able to cope with what was being presented to them and as a result, dropped points that they would have been sinking on a good day with fewer challenges.

Nonetheless, those marksmen and women who were lagging behind met and came up with ways of countering and getting the better of what was being presented to them including the Guyanese shooters.

Day two was much better with better scores being recorded and Braithwaite the Individual King of the Caribbean Ranges, clawed his way into a position to retain his championship trophy.

Captain of the Guyana Team Dylan Fields commented on the performances of his charges so far, himself clawing back encouragingly after being 15^th on day one to sixth, heading into the final day on Thursday.

“On day one we found that the ammunition was not up to the standard that we are used to and this had its challenges. Nevertheless, we found ways to reduce these effects. So, I would say that day one was about getting on terms with the challenges we faced, and Lennox was able to put in a really good performance,” Fields said.

“Day two, what we had was a really strong performance by our team members and as a result, they all have shown that they are up to the task. I am happy that Lennox is at the top and the other team members are moving up the leaderboard.”

Captain Fields shared that on the final day, the shooters will continue like they did on Wednesday and will be pushing as hard as they can, “And we’ll see what happens.”

The ranges again will be 300 yards (two sighting shots and 10 rounds to count), 500 yards (two sightings shots and seven rounds to count), and 600 yards (two sighting shots and 15 rounds to count).

After the final shot is fired at the 600 yards range, it would be tabulation time and the top shot would be declared in the X, O, and Tiro Classes.

Following are the overall scores and positions for selected shooters over the first two days. A total of 42 shooters are contesting these individual championships.