Jamaica's shooters in Florida
Contributed
Jamaica's Practical Pistol shooters were in impressive at the recently concluded Florida Open Pistol Shooting Tournament in Fostproof, Florida.
Despite going up against more than 200 shooters that included Grand Master from 12 countries from the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean, the local team overcame the odds to win several awards.
Ryan Bramwell, one of Jamaica's Master Class shooters was the runner-up in the Carry Optics Division (Master Class). Pistol captain Alrice Palmer walked away with first place in the B Class category while Thomas Hall finished third in C Class while Adrian Randle was fourth in A class.
Ekpedeme Otoukon was awarded second place in the Senior category.
"I am really proud of my team's achievement. Based on the growth and development of the male and female members of this team and the club, I am seeing where we will have several Master Class shooters in the near future," said Bramwell, who was the only Master Class shooter on the team.
Jamaica pulled off a sweep in the Men’s Limited Division B Class in which Darin Richards finished first, Owen Campbell second and Ellesworth Dixon was third. Campbell also finished first in the Senior Category of his division.
Jamaica was also represented in the Open and Production Division where Bernard Lawrence (Open Division) and Sanjay Welsh (Production Division) were equally impressive, copping third place in C Class and second place in B Class, respectively.
The two Alpha Angels female shooters on tour were not to be outdone as Constable Shayon Francis was on target winning the Carry Optics C Class and was second in the Carry Optics Lady Category while team captain Detective Corporal Sasha-Gay Mullings finished in third place.
"The match was a very good one. The shooting stages were fun and I'm really happy with my performance and by extension my team's performance,” Francis said.
“We could have even done better, however, some of our members had equipment malfunction and we dropped some points on those stages but our team did exceptionally well nonetheless."
Meanwhile, Evan Medley who placed fourth in the Production Division and Keith Miller were among the range officers who officiated the match.
Craig Simpson & Wendy McMaster ready to defend Rangers Sporting Clays titles
Defending champions Craig Simpson and Wendy McMaster will be gunning for top honors again at the Rangers Gun Club shoot which is set for Sunday May 6th with a 10 am shotgun start at the True Juice Complex in Bog Walk, St. Catherine.
The venue is considered to be happy hunting ground for the two defending champions. It is the venue where Simpson posted his highest score in the sport (97 out of a possible 100) and where McMaster dethroned her daughter and two-time winner Aliana, to take the top spot.
Competition for top honors will be stiff as some of the Jamaica Skeet Club's best shooters will be on the course. They include nine-time national shotgun champion Ian Banks, six-time national shotgun champion Shaun Barnes, four-time national shotgun champion Christian Sasso, other national shotgun champions like Chad Ziadie, his father Geoffrey Ziadie, Ray McMaster, Andrew Hopwood, Nicholas Benjamin and young David Wong as well as former winner Nicholas Chen.
On the female side the top contenders include two-time winner Aliana McMaster and sister Leanne, Renee Rickhi who is part of the Jamaica Rifle Association's Alpha Angels lady shooters, Marguerite Harris and granddaughter Lori-Ann Harris among others.
Shooters in various classes from A - E, Hunters or Beginners, Juniors, Sub-Juniors and Ladies will be competing hard in order to win their classes and in some cases move up to higher and more challenging classes. The event features an eighteen-station driving course.
The shooters will face targets of varying types including true pairs (birds launched at the same time), rabbits (birds released on the ground), birds in the air released at different speeds and directions as well as some targets released over gentle flowing streams on the lush green course.
The Rangers Gun Club is expecting another big field of approximately one hundred and fifty shooters to conquer the expansive driving course for a day of individual and team competition which will feature the local gun clubs. For the third year in a row four clubs will compete for that trophy. The competing clubs are Driftwood Gun Club, Rangers Gun Club, Trelawny Gun Club and defending champion - the Jamaica Gun Club.
Part proceeds from the event will be donated to the Food for the Poor organization.
The lead sponsor for the Rangers Gun Club Sporting Clays shoot is Sterling Asset Management while Worthy Park Select, National and STLSOLAR are the next level sponsors.
The club has a rich history of young business men and some of their fathers who loved shooting getting together in the mid-1980s to start the Rangers Gun Club at their Salt Gully base in St. Catherine. They initially focused on bird shooting then took on sporting clays which is currently the most popular form of the sport.
Maloney continues good form this season with 600m national record to win at Miramar Invitational; Mason, Williams, Russell also among winners
Vincentian Shafiqua Maloney continued her impressive start to the 2024 season with a national record to take top spot in the women’s 600m at the Miramar Invitational at the Ansin Sports Complex in Florida on Saturday.
Maloney, an 800m gold medallist at the NACAC U-23 Championships in 2021, ran 1:23.80 to win ahead of Americans Sadi Henderson (1:27.81) and Ajee Wilson (1:27.86).
The 25-year-old is coming off an excellent season indoors that included 800m wins at the Arkansas Invitational on January 12, Razorback Invitational on January 27 and the Tyson Invitational on February 10.
Also among the winners on Saturday were Bajan two-time World Championships 400m bronze medallist Sada Williams, Jamaican sprint hurdler Tyler Mason and Bahamian quarter miler Alonzo Russell.
Williams produced 22.82 to take the women’s 200m ahead of Denmark’s Ida Karstoft (23.010 and American Kynnedy Flannel (23.32).
Mason took the win in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.57. American Eric Edwards was second in 13.60 while Great Britain’s Andrew Pozzi was third in 13.63.
Russell ran a season’s best 45.35 to win the men’s 400m ahead of Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic (45.36) and Bahamian Wendell Miller (46.00).
World Indoor 60m bronze medallist Ackeem Blake ran 10.28 to finish second in the men’s 100m, just behind American Courtney Lindsey who ran the same time as Blake. Another Jamaican, Andre Ewers, ran 10.43 to finish third.
In the field, 2019 World Championships silver medallist Danniel Thomas-Dodd threw 18.72m for third in the women’s shot put behind American Maggie Ewen (18.95m) and Chase Jackson (19.88m).
Jamaican Chanice Porter jumped 6.36m for second in the women’s long jump. The USA’s Taliyah Brooks narrowly won the event with 6.38m while Puerto Rico’s Alysbeth Felix-Boyer was third with a season’s best 6.28m.
Jackson pulls out of Miramar Invitational
Two-time World 200m champion Shericka Jackson has withdrawn from the Miramar Invitational scheduled for Saturday at the Ansin Sports Complex.
This marks the third instance in which the current Olympic 100m bronze medalist has postponed her season opener.
Jackson previously withdrew from the JAAA Puma/Fuller/Anderson Development Meet at GC Foster College in Spanish Town on January 13 due to illness, and the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Development meet at the National Stadium on January 26.
"Never Quit. Unfortunately, Shericka won’t be competing at the Miramar Invitational this Saturday. Will definitely keep y’all updated whenever the season opener is scheduled," Jackson said in a post on her Facebook page on Friday.
She was scheduled to compete in the 200m.
Jackson is the second high-profile athlete to withdraw from the meet as reigning world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the USA also announced her non-participation on social media on Wednesday.
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