Palma Match – World Championship of Long Range Rifle Shooting... West Indies enjoy good day; ahead of Germany going into final day, today

Palma Match – World Championship of Long Range Rifle Shooting… West Indies enjoy good day; ahead of Germany going into final day, today

Aug 14, 2015 Sports

Jason Wood – shot his first possible at any level.

By Franklin Wilson at Camp Perry, Ohio, USA
Compliments of NAMILCO, Ringbang, Fazias Collection,
Crown Mining Supply and Queensway

The 2015 edition of the World Championship of Long Range Rifle Shooting (Palma Match), the most prestigious team event in the sport fired off yesterday at the Viale Range, Camp Perry, Ohio, USA in testing conditions.
The West Indies Fullbore Rifle team did well on the day finishing ahead of Germany going into today’s final day of the world’s most prestigious fullbore championship being held under the auspices of the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Association (ICFRA).
After three ranges, 800, 900 and 1000, the West Indies are seventh of eight countries, competing at this range for the first time, with a score 3299-212 Vs with world powerhouse Great Britain leading with 3551-403 Vs, dropping only 49 points from a possible 4000.
All the countries struggled at the 1000 yards range with swirling and switching winds making it difficult for all.
The West Indies had more to be proud about with the young shooters, Jason Wood of Barbados achieving his first possible at any level. He shot 75-10 at 800 yards, while another debutant at this level; Guyanese Sherwin Felicen also did the possible at 800 with 75-7.

The Palma Match in full swing at 800 yards yesterday at the Viale Range, Camp Perry, Ohio, USA.

Ransford Goodluck also had a possible at 800 (75.9) while the other possible of the day was fired by Lennox Braithwaite (75-6) at the 900 yards range.
The West Indies while bringing up the rear at 800 yards despite shooting well upstaged Germany at both 900 and 1000 yards.
Great Britain, USA and Australia had dropped a single point at this range but as the shoot progressed, the British marksmen made good strides and it will take some doing by the their close rivals to catch up.
Non-Shooting Captain, Major John Nelson complimented his shooters for doing well at the 800 and 900 yards while pointing out that at 1000 yards, it was bad for everyone.
“All teams suffered in very, very bad wind conditions, high swirling winds which caused a lot of shots to be way off target. We are not happy, but a tremendous amount of effort was put in by our coaches and by the shooters and we take some amount of comfort from that.”
It is anticipated that conditions on today’s final day will be similar to yesterday and Coach Nelson informed that they will be up to the task and will strive to better yesterday’s performance by improving.
Main Wind Coaches Paul Slowea nd Carl Awong, while complimenting the shooters for rising to the occasion, also noted that there is room for improvement and they are looking forward to more encouraging performances from the team today.
Competition will again be at the 800, 900 and 1000 yards ranges. When the final shot is fired, the world Champions will be declared and awarded accordingly with the prestigious Palma Trophy. Shooters have competed to earn this honor since September 1876, when the Great Centennial Match was held on Creedmoor rifle range in New York State.
Following are the individual and team scores from yesterday.
Name 800 900 1000 Ind. Aggregate
Lennox Braithwaite 74-9 75-6 64-2 213-17
Ryan Sampson 68-3 73-6 67-2 208-11
Sherwin Felicen 75-7 73-4 68-2 216-13
MahendraPersaud 72.4 70-4 62-2 204-10
Anderson Perry 73-8 72-5 70-6 215-19
Sigmund Douglas 74-6 69-3 57-1 200-10
Tommy Greenaway 64-4 52-0 64-2 180-06
Dylan Fields 74-5 73-2 61-1 208-08
Marlon King 74-6 74-7 70-6 218-19
Jason Wood 75-10 71-5 65-3 211-18
Leo Romalho 67-5 72-4 60-0 201-09
Michael Perez 74-5 70-2 58-4 202-11
Ransford Goodluck 75-9 73-7 68-05 216-21
John Fraser 73-6 70-6 61-4 204-16
Peter Persaud 71-8 67-5 60-0 199-13
Norris Gomez 73-5 72-5 59-1 204-11
Total 1156-100 1126-71 1014-41 3299-212
(Day 1Total)
Country Scores
Great Britain 1199-178 1193-133 1159-92 3551-403
USA 1199-177 1181-107 1141-75 3520-358
South Africa 1194-151 1173-100 1145-88 3512-336
Australia 1199-169 1188-126 1122-71 3504-366
New Zealand 1188-166 1169-100 1127-86 3485-357
Canada 1192-154 1168-109 1066-54 3421-318
West Indies 1157-81 1127-16 1014-39 3299-212
Germany 1174-101 1114-78 1140-38 3294-218