Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza and Augustine Hwata
12 November 2009
Harare — ZIMBABWEAN shottists recently made their presence felt at the Practical Pistol Africa Area Championships in Welkom, South Africa, where the national team edged Namibia to win first team place at this international event.
Zimbabwe sent 11 competitors, including a four-man national team, at the four-day shoot, which was held in Welkom from November 4-7.
And the national team did the nation proud by coming out tops in the team event at the shoot.
The Zimbabwe national team was made up of Paul Friendship from Cleveland Pistol Club in Harare, Troy Maidwell and Pieter Greeff of Donnington Practical Pistol Club in Bulawayo, and Dion Yatras from Mutare Pistol and Rifle Club.
And the four marksman "went on the rampage" at the shoot as they eclipsed the Namibian team to win first team place.
Zimbabwe was also represented in the women's section during the Welkom shoot and Tara Maidwell of Donnington was placed fourth overall -- no mean accomplishment.
The individual Zimbabwean placings were: Troy Maidwell (15th), Pieter Greeff (22nd), Paul Friendship (24th), Dion Yatras (25th), Jason Vosloo (45th), Jess Watson (48th), Tara Maidwell (50th), Hannes Scholtz (79th), Ira Larivers (81st) and David Gill (85th).
This year's shoot in Welkom attracted some 250 competitors and range officials from Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.
Each shooter was required to complete 26 separate courses of fire over a period of three days, and had to fire in the region of 500 rounds.
In Practical Pistol, all stages are different, and therefore shooters cannot practise ad nauseum a certain drill until they become polished -- it is a case of see it, assess it, and deal with it, each time.
This type of shooting requires competitors to be nimble of mind and quick on their feet, as the shooter's final score will be divided by the time it took him or her to achieve it.
Meanwhile, the other big news which emerged after the Welkom shoot is that Zimbabwe has been selected to host the next Africa Area Championships, which will take place in 2012, following the next world championship match in Greece in 2011. This event is hosted on the African continent every three years, in the year following the discipline's world championship match.
Last year's world championships were shot in Bali, Indonesia, and Zimbabwe was also represented there. In Greece in 2011, Zimbabwe is also planning to put in a bid to host the 17th World Championships in 2014, which, if successful, will attract in the region of 1 500 international athletes and officials.
In another development, scores of top marksmen and women will meet at Cleveland Shooting Range, just outside Harare, this Sunday for the fourth edition of the Confederation of Hunters of South Africa shooting competition.
The competition is set to attract participants from the whole of Zimbabwe with some expected to come from across South Africa.
The Harare Rifle Club and the National Rifle Association of Zimbabwe are co-ordinating the shoot. Vice-president of the NRAZ Louis Nel said the shoot will be over 900m and they expect exciting contests.
"We will shoot the Chasa shoot this Sunday. We have shot this competition three times to date," said Nel. Nel said, as in the past, they will observe strict rules that are the backbone and hallmark of the sport. "The bar will only be opened on completion of the shoot and not before," Nel emphasised.
The NRAZ boss said registration will be on same day, starting a few minutes before the guns start blazing. Top finishers will be presented with prizes at the end of the day and Nel added that the prizes will be forfeited if the winners are not present at the ceremony.
Nel said the Chasa will be used as part of their national championship standing.
"The log and overall championship appears to be taking shape," he said.
The overall championship will be presented with prizes at the end of the year.
"We are in the process of arranging a super prize for the log champion to be presented at the end of the year.
"A case of whisky has been donated to the log prizes and I hear in the wind that a few more good prizes are in the offing," he said.
In August, the NRAZ organised the 2009 Service Rifle Shooting Championships that attracted 92 target men and women.
Members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and civilian clubs attended with Nel of the Harare Rifle Club winning the individual men's shoot with a total score of 183 points.
Gerrit Radermeyer of Headquarters 1 Brigade Bulawayo Rifle came second on 178 points and Chris Chitongo of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Support Unit was a close third, just a point behind.
In September, the Harare Rifle Club hosted the Pfura Mombe competition that consisted of fullbore heavy, fullbore sports, smallbore light and smallbore heavy disciplines.
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