Big Success for Gibraltar Target Shooting Association

This isn’t a dig at our other sports teams; however, it is simply congratulating the shooting teams for doing an excellent job at the sports that they love over the years. It isn’t all about the medals won in an event either, it’s about the taking part and having fun.

Kristina Hewitt is a 17-year-old air-rifle shooter for the Gibraltar Target Shooting Association who won silver in 3P team events in 2019’s Island Games. She has been practicing the sport since 2016 and had also participated in Shooting for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

“I was so shocked when I got a silver medal because we had only trained for that discipline [3P] for 2 weeks before the Island Games started as we got the new shooting range finally just a month before the Island Games. Before that, we had a temporary range which could only cater for 10m air rifle so that was all we shot for the past year, and as soon as we got the new range we had to hit it hard at training for 3P. Our new range is huge with loads more firing points and at a way better location.”

3P means Three Positions, a Rifle Event where the shooter has to shoot an equal number of shots fired from the prone, whilst standing and whilst kneeling. This hasn’t taken place for a long time in Gibraltar, as the old range at Europa Point was not able to accommodate this. 3P was introduced and trained upon with the introduction of the new shooting facility at North Mole Road.

Another medal winner is 16-year-old Mairead Sheriff, who has been shooting for 3 years and also participated in the Commonwealth games. This year, she won 4 silver medals and one bronze medal across all shooting disciplines in the Island Games. When asked what she thought when she won the medals, she said,

“Yes that it was a great achievement for me personally as I had barely shot two of the disciplines as they were quite new to me, and it was a shame I didn’t have the proper equipment as it let me down in the individual 3P final landing me in 5th."

Darren Sheriff, her father, is also a coach for the GTSA and had this to say, “The performances from all of our young shooters was terrific! You can definitely tell that from the fact that all of them have individually won medals. I’m very proud of each and every one of them.”

I also had the lovely opportunity to have an interview with the President of the Gibraltar Target Shooting Association, Albert Buhagiar, who has been the President of the GTSA for 8 years. Albert gave me a great tour of the new facility, which has magnificent 360-degree views of Gibraltar.

Albert has been into shooting since he was 21 and shot in the MOD for a number of years before he shot for the Dockyard Shooting Association, and then became a coach for Manchester United Football Club for 14 years. He was also a coach for the GFA for 9 years. With him, Gibraltar’s Men’s Football Team won Gold at the 2007 Island Games. This year, all 6 young shooters who practice shooting under Albert and Darren’s coaching have won medals in this year’s Island Games.

“In shooting, you don’t have to be extremely fit, you don’t need to be too young, you can be big, you can be clumsy and you can still perform. Physique is not something a shooter is worried about. Anybody can shoot and anybody can be a world champion and anyone can be an Olympian, it’s just how dedicated you are and how strongly you feel about achieving your goals.”

Mr. Buhagiar continued by saying, “We didn’t have a range for over a year, we only shot 50m and 3P in this new range for 3 to 4 weeks, the demands put on them and stress put on them was intense, and yet all our young shooters have won a medal. It’s very good for them as it shows them that their very hard work has paid off. I am absolutely amazed and over the moon with their performances in the Island Games. I’m very proud of all our shooters.”

When asked about the new shooting facility he said, “You wouldn’t find a range quite like this in the UK. From what we’ve heard from Facebook and from all the Islands who participated, this is a magnificent facility, and some have even said that this is the best shooting facility in all of Europe.”

He did, however, express frustration about not being able to be members of the International Sports Shooting Federation, as they changed the rules and because of some other people in Gibraltar who didn’t do what needed to be done in the past. “This has stopped us from shooting at World International Levels and European International Levels,” He believes that he and his shooters are more than able to compete in these leagues. He added: “This has butchered us in Gibraltar.”

Mr. Buhagiar, the GTSA, and other shooters are preparing for the next Open Championships in May 2020 which will take place in the spring bank holiday weekend.

The GTSA is holding the GSLA Summer Sports Activities at the new shooting facility for children and teenagers to try out the sport on Wednesday the 7th and Friday 9th in the morning. The shooting facility is located on North Mole Road. “We can only take a few kids at a time. It can be a dangerous sport but we take extreme care and we tell them all the safety procedures and this will all be covered in full on Monday.”

*This article was published on the back cover of Monday 5th July's Print and Online Edition of the PANORAMA

06-08-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR