2024 Junior International Week - Rifle Team Report
Scottish team for the rifle competitions at the Junior International
On the 4th August 2024, 11 Juniors travelled to Bisley to represent Scotland in the rifle section of the Junior International Match - Rhona Love, Rorie Watt, Kirsty Scott, Frankie Calder, Finlay Love, Junsung Kim, Annabel Aitken, Tony Lin Baledent, Lily Driscoll, Fraya Allen and Charlotte Kim all competed in individual and team events.
The Air Rifle hall was very warm as usual so the team experimented with ways of keeping cool. The 50m range was cooler but suffered from the usual tricky winds. Competitors shot on the 50m range for the last time before the Nuclear Police take over the firing point area for additional training and the NSRA rebuild the range facing north.
Monday was Air Rifle training and Equipment Control which is always a joy. The 50m range was closed for Target Sprint.
Tuesday morning was the Air Rifle Grand Prix which is a warm up for the main event and included the Mixed Pairs Competition.
The Women’s event was won by Kirsty Scott ahead of Emily Rudland from SERRS and Elizabeth Hart from Jersey.
The Men’s event was won by Rorie Watt ahead of Ruan Wessels from South Africa and Noah Apps from the ESSU Academy.
In the Mixed Pairs event Rhona and Finlay qualified for the Gold / Silver match. Unfortunately the Pair from England were too strong and Rhona and Finlay had to settle for the Silver medal.
Rhona and Finlay picking up the Silver Medal for the Mixed Pairs Air Rifle Grand Prix
In the afternoon it was the 50m Grand Prix , another warm up for the main match. The wind was tricky as usual but in the Women’s event Kirsty managed it very well and recorded a 617.4 well ahead of Elizabeth Hart from Jersey and Penelope Settas (the first competitor from Greece to attend the event).
Kirsty Scott picking up the Gold Medal in the 50m Grand Prix Women’s event
The Men’s event was much closer with Rorie and Junsung achieving the same score. Rorie won the Gold medal on the X count. Daniel Cornall from Peninsula won the Bronze medal.
The Women’s Team of Rhona, Kirsty and Annabel finished in 3rd place to pick up Bronze medals. The Men’s team of Rorie, Finlay and Junsung also finished in 3rd place for another set of Bronze medals.
Thursday is the last competition day and for us the focus is on 50m prone. At the request of the competitors the final has been retained to make the competition more interesting.
In the Women’s event Frankie, Kirsty and Annabel all qualified for the final with Frankie in top spot. The final was very tight and the Gold / Silver battle ended up with Frankie and Kirsty fighting it out. Frankie took the Gold Medal. Identical results to last year for Frankie and Kirsty.
Frankie winning the Gold Medal ahead of Kirsty winning Silver in the Women’s 50m Prone event
The Women’s Team of Frankie, Kirsty and Annabel had a comfortable win. When teams are submitted the competitors who are not in a team go into a random draw to make up mixed teams. It worked in our favour this year since Lily was in the Silver Medal team and Charlotte was in the Bronze Medal team. The podium was a nice shade of blue.
Frankie, Kirsty and Annabel winning Gold in the Team 50m Prone event
In the Men’s prone event Rorie qualified for the final in 3rd place with Junsung missing out by 0.3 after cross shooting a 10.6 and scoring a zero on his own target. In the final, Rorie lead up to the 7th series then got caught by the wind for an 8.9. Going into the last two shots he was 1.4 behind the leader. In a difficult wind he shot two 10.4’s to win the match by 0.2 - I think that is called determination to win. Rorie has now won this event 3 years in succession.
Rorie won the Gold Medal in the 50m Prone Men’s event for the third year running!
In the Men’s Team event Rorie, Junsung and Tony finished in the Bronze Medal position. Without the cross shot it would have been Silver but these things happen occasionally.
Six of the team stayed for the Weekend Aggregate which is part of the British Championships. They achieved some excellent results in the usual wild Bisley wind. Frankie was 2nd equal in B Class so will be promoted to A Class. Annabel was 4th in C Class and will be promoted to B Class. Tony won two trophies, the D Class Aggregate and the Under 16 Championship so will be promoted to C Class.
Overall an enjoyable week with a great team of Juniors. Thanks to Neil Calder for all his help.
Report and photos by Ian Thomson, Rifle JI Co-ordinator