Van Wyk, Ahrens excel in Grand Prix Shotgun

THE Clay Target Shooting Association of Namibia together with the Namibia Olympic Shotgun Range and Bank Windhoek hosted the third African Grand Prix in Shotgun at the shooting range at Luiperdsvallei.

The organisation was the best Africa has ever seen, and can be compared to that of big international events. A big crowd of spectators gave great support to the athletes of both Namibia and visiting countries. Against a total of 35 shooters including African and Commonwealth champions, Namibia’s Gielie van Wyk and Gaby Ahrens proved to be simply too strong.After the qualification rounds shot on Saturday and Sunday morning, Ahrens was going into the final with a lead of three targets totalling 112/125 ahead of Adelino Chaves from Angola and Gielie van Wyk. However, the men proved to be stronger in the last round and clinched silver and gold respectively, while Ahrens got bronze.Namibia’s Van Wyk was thus the overall champion, followed by Angola’s Chaves and Ahrens.The women’s gold medal went to Ahrens, while Australia’s Diane Reeves won silver and Danika Ahrens, also from Namibia, took bronze.The junior gold medal was won by Alexander Kaufmann of Namibia, while Antonio Gamito, also of Namibia, took silver. Ahrens qualified for the African Shooting Championships to be held in Algiers in February 2010. The next chance for Namibian shooters to qualify will be the Zone Six Championships in Pretoria on November 14.