Three-time defending champion Aliana McMaster and defending champion Shaun Barnes are ready to defend their Driftwood Gun Club titles on Sunday at the picturesque Murphy Hill Estate over-looking the town of Ocho Rios.

The event will begin at 9:30 am, with over 150 shooters set to contest the 17-station course.

It kicks off the first sporting clays shoot of the year for the Jamaica Skeet Club, which has a busy 2024 calendar.

Barnes, the six-time national shotgun champion, will battle the likes of four-time national champion Christian Sasso and nine-time national shotgun champion and current Jamaica Skeet Club president Ian Banks, as well as two-time Driftwood Gun Club champion Craig Simpson, the red-hot Nick Benjamin, with multiple wins under his belt in 2023, and the very consistent Ray McMaster among other outstanding shooters. They will be challenged by several sharp shooting juniors.

Meanwhile, the Ladies section will also be competitive with McMaster expected to be challenged by her mother, many-time national shotgun champion Wendy McMaster, former national shotgun champion Marguerite Harris and a number of very good lady shooters such as Renee Rickhi, Loriann Harris and others.

The shooters will compete in various classes including A to E, Juniors, Sub-Juniors, Ladies and Hunters or beginners.

Proceeds from the tournament will be used for the Driftwood Gun Club’s charities, which are dominated by educational support in the Treasure Beach area in the parish of St. Elizabeth.

Club president, Christina East is happy to have Proven on board for the fourth consecutive year as major sponsor. She credited David East who passed away in 2020 with playing a pivotal role in securing the venue (Murphy Hill) as the home of the club's annual competition.

East was considered to be a visionary club member who only wanted the best for sporting clays in Jamaica, hence the competition is held in his honour. This year marks twenty years of existence for the Driftwood Gun Club.

Former national shotgun champion Christian Sasso and in-form female shooter Aliana McMaster were in top form recently when they defeated Master Class shooters in the Jack Links Cup and the Zoli Cup, respectively, in Florida.

Sasso emerged the victor in a shoot-off with USA Master Class shooters Joseph Fanizzi (USA) and Bill McGuire (USA) after all three were deadlocked in a three-way tie in Jack Links Cup at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch.

Naturally, he was ecstatic about his performance. "I would like to thank the sponsors who helped me to compete in the Jack Links Cup tournament in Florida, Sasco Distributors, Azan Super Centre and Issa Construction - they all played an integral part of my success that took place over the competition," he said.

"Right now I am ecstatic. I always try to do my best but to place in Master Class Fitasc, after a shoot-off with Joseph Fanizzi and Bill McGuire, two giants in the sport, I couldn't be any happier with the results. As you know Fitasc is only one category of many in the tournament. Right now my shooting scores are in line with the pros.

"I believe that with more international tournaments to come and exposure to different targets, I can consistently produce a first, second or third place."

He also congratulated his Jamaican colleagues who also competed.

"I would like to congratulate all the Jamaicans who participated and placed in the tournament. I will start with Aliana McMaster, who is a junior excelling in the sport as basically a newcomer, Roman Tavares-Finson, who shot exceptionally well, Zachary Chin, Jonathan Ralston, who is a junior producing good scores right now; Isaac Mair, Chad Zaidie, Shaun and Marc Barnes, Edward Zacca, Paul Burke, Wendy McMaster, John Desnoes, Gordon Bucknor (and) Lenin Thompson.

“All of these persons did extremely well in their respective classes, and I would just like to big up all of them and big up team Jamaica."

Shaun Barnes, a six-time national shotgun champion topped the AA Class preliminaries with a score of 83 and the AA Class Fitasc (86).

Roman Tavares-Finson won the AA Class in 5-Stand after scoring 93 while Chad Zaidie topped the Main Event with a score of 172. Young Jonathan Ralston bagged first place in a number of disciplines namely, A Class Thursday Prelims - 81, A Class Fitasc - 85 and A-Class Super Sporting - 42.

 In the Zoli Classic at the South Florida Shooting Club, there were outstanding performances from Aliana McMaster, Chad Ziadie, Richard Todd and Brandon Laing.

McMaster was the number one female performer for Jamaica after topping the D Class - 87 in the Thursday Prelims, Friday Prelims - 83 and 5-Stand - 85.  She is the first Jamaican female shooter to win a class in any overseas shooting competition under the Jamaica Skeet Club banner. She bagged 10 trophies in the tournament.

"My performance overall between the overseas shoots so far has been my best performance I could have put out there. I didn't feel like I left anything out there,” she said.

“I couldn't have done more. All I learnt is knowledge and experience and just a feeling of accomplishment and also dealing with disappointment and different aspects of things I need to learn about myself when shooting in foreign and I couldn't have asked for a better result or game."

Meanwhile, Chad Ziadie won four AA Class categories with scores of - Thursday Prelims - 95, Friday Prelims - 86, Fitasc - 80 and Super Sporting - 44.

Craig Simpson defeated defending champion Christian Sasso via long run to win the David East Memorial Sporting Clays on Sunday. Meanwhile, Aliana McMaster dethroned her mother, Wendy, to take the women’s title.

Three-time national shotgun champion Christian Sasso and four-time national female champion Wendy McMaster are eager to take to the course their respective rivals today at the David East Memorial Shoot at the picturesque Murphy Hill Estate which overlooks the town of Ocho Rios in St Ann.

Sasso, however confident, will have to look out for his rivals, who include six-time national champion Shaun Barnes as well as Ray McMaster, Craig Simpson and Robert Yap Foo.

The Ladies section also promises to be competitive with McMaster expecting to be challenged by her daughter Aliana, Marguerite Harris and Renee Rickhi.

Mention must be made of the Juniors who have been posting wins against some of the island’s top shooters.  Juniors such as Danzell Knight, Mark Desnoes, JJ Ralston and David Wong are expected to be engaged in heated battle throughout the day.

The shooters will compete in various classes including A-E, Junior A-D, Sub-Junior, Ladies and Hunters or beginners.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, there will be a number of changes to the 2021 staging of the tournament. The usual two-day event will now be held in one day in order to reduce the contact time among the shooters.

There will be no hospitality on the course and no after-shoot prize-giving lyme. The wearing of masks will be mandatory and shooters will be subjected to temperature checks on entering the venue.

There will also be no shooters briefings and fewer shooters will be allowed on the course at any one time.  This means that there will be two start times (9:30 am and 1:30 pm), which will lead to a longer day overall but makes for easier social distancing with fewer shooters on the course.