Theron Kolokwe
6 November 2009
Windhoek — Namibians excelled on home turf at the new Luiperdsvallei shooting range during the Clay Target shooting African Grand Prix last weekend.
Gielie Van Wyk literally out-shot the competition to make sure the trophy stayed on Namibian soil. Gaby Ahrens won the women's title and came third overall, culminating a very successful tournament for Namibian shooters by anybody's standards.
What made these wins more significant was the fact that they were achieved against shooters from Angola (their shooter winning second overall), South Africa, Australia, and Austria. The international contingent came with shoooters of high calibre, a commonwealth champion, world cup winner, national champion, a national and African champion.
President of the Shooting Union of Namibia, Hasso Ahrens described the event as well organised and that the shooting was top class.
Hasso Ahrens is also Gaby Ahrens' father. He said he was delighted and surprised by his daughter's performance against the many quality shots on show.
"She was very good in the tournament. For her to earn that many points was a surprise to everybody even by her standards," said Hasso Ahrens.
He (Hasso Ahrens) described overall winner, GielieVan Wyk's win as a step in the right direction for Namibian shooting, describing it as encouraging.
For the 14 Namibians involved, Ahrens said the tournament was used to select a team to represent the country at the All Africa Championships and the Commonwealth Games in India next year.
As president of the local rifle union, Ahrens stressed the importance of such tournaments for Namibian shooters.
"It was very important to stage this international tournament because our shooters competed against some of the world's best and it raises their standard and concentration levels".
Meanwhile, the venue for the tournament is a brand new range for the Shooting Union, only officially opened recently. Known as the Namibia Olympic Shotgun Range, Hasso Ahrens said it is the first shooting range in the country to comply with International Shooting Union standards.
The sport is still in its developmental stage in the country. Ahrens said the union realised that it did not have the facilities it needed to reach the standard it desires.
"It was mountains of work to get the range done," said president Ahrens.
"In fact, it took us years to source funds and construct it to the standard required by the International Shooting Union.
"From now on we look forward knowing that we have the potential and a world-class range that will raise our standards.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Namibia Economist. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
