Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
133rd Canadian Fullbore Rifle Championships…Braithwaite ends as top Ex-Class shooter & 11th, Persaud is 20th overall
The flags of Guyana and the West Indies fullbore shooting flew high and proud at the 133rd Canadian Fullbore Rifle Championships when the Guyanese pair of reigning National and Caribbean Individual Champion Lennox Braithwaite and National Captain and West Indies Vice Captain Mahendra Persaud placed 11th and 20th in the Governor General Prize which attracted the top 50 shooters.
Top Shots! Lennox Braithwaite (right) and Mahendra Persaud in Canada.
Braithwaite emerged as the top shooter in the Ex-Class and was rewarded with the Royal Rifles Trophy.
The duo along with Trinidadian Norris Gomez who is also President of the West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council (WIFBSC), Christopher Joseph and Thomas Greenaway of Antigua and Barbuda and Bermudan David Dumont who were all part of the West Indies team that competed at the World Long Range Championships (Individual) and Palma Match (Team) held in Ohio, USA also competed in Canada.
Braithwaite and Persaud were the only two to qualify for the Governor General Prize and made their presence felt with good shooting despite not being able to finish even better.
In the 800m Governor General Final on Saturday last, Braithwaite finished one shy of a possible with a score of 74-4, a similar score was put on the board by Persaud.
At 900m, the Guyanese pair was hoping to another good shot to put themselves in the fray for the top spots but tricky winds put paid to their chances and could only muster scores of 71-7, again, identical. Only one shooter achieved a possible at this range, Carlton Hardin of the USA, 75-6.
In the President’s 600m 10-round shoot which attracted 148 competitors, Braithwaite shot a possible (50-3) as did Persaud, 50-4. In the Presidents 500m, Braithwaite had a score of 50-9 while Persaud recorded 50-5.
In the President’s 300, Braithwaite again nailed a possible 50-6 while Persaud had 49-3; these scores in the final stages of eth competition underscored the excellent performances of the Guyana and West Indian shooters. In many instances, mere Vs separated the shooters which came from the host nation, USA, Ireland, Hong Kong and Great Britain.
In the final analysis, Braithwaite ended 11th with a score of 295-29Vs while Persaud’s final score was 294-23 for the 20th place out of the top 50 out of a possible 300 points and 60Vs.
The winner was Kent Reeve of the USA with a score of 299-40 followed by Justin Hearn 298-29 and Serge Bissonnette 297-34 both of Canada.
Lennox Braithwaite proudly displays the Royal Rifles Trophy as the top Ex-Class shooter in the MS Grand Aggregate.
Three shooters ended with a score of 297, a similar amount with 296 while 7 ended with 295, Braithwaite being third among this lot. A total of six ended with 294 points, Persaud was sixth among them.
In an invited comment, Persaud said that he was happy to have made the final two consecutive years was very impressed with eth way Braithwaite also shot.
“We just could not finish properly, the wind at 900 meters was very tricky but we tried our best and we are both looking forward to competing in Canada next year, better prepared of course.”
Persaud also informed that the shooters in Canada shoos their own hand loaded ammo as against the West Indians shooing a very good quality commercial ammo.
“Shooing your own hand loaded ammo costs less and therefore they can practice more at a cheaper cost. We at the Guyana National Rifle Association will be exploring all possibilities to get on par with these guys.”
(Franklin Wilson)
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