Van Wyk wins Shooting Trials

Gielie van Wyk won the first national shooting trials of the year which took place at the Luiperds Valley military base shooting range south of Windhoek on Saturday.

The former Namibian champion was on target with a world class mark of 118 out of 125 shots, which was only one shot short of the Namibian record.

The opening trials was the first of five which will be held this year. Namibians have to shoot a minimum qualification score (MQS) at three of the events to be able to represent their country at international competitions.

Namibia’s Olympic Trap shooter Gaby Ahrens, who was the only female to compete, clinched the silver medal. The female shooters have three rounds of 25 targets to reach their MQS, while the men shoot five. During the qualification shoot, Ahrens hit 64 of the possible 75 targets, to reach the MQS and advance to the final.

Etienne Jooste scored 110 out of 125 to take the bronze medal, while he was the third participant of the day to make the MQS.

During the semi-final, Ahrens showed her full potential when she didn’t miss a single clay pigeon. Van Wyk missed one, setting up the gold medal match with Ahrens.

Here Ahrens shot well again, but Van Wyk was in a class of his own to edge out Ahrens 15-13, 15-11 to take home the gold medal.

The third place went to Jooste, while Sven Ahrens came fourth.

“I am very happy with the tournament. I reached my goal of getting the minimum qualifying score and the silver medal is obviously nice as well. At the same time I must congratulate Gielie van Wyk on his exceptional performance. He deserved to win,” Ahrens said.

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