The Great Britain Disability Shooting squad have returned from the International Shooting Competitions of Hannover (ISCH) with seven medals, including an individual gold medal for Roy Carter in the pistol shooting competition.
The event, which took place from April 26 to May, was also an opportunity for the shooters to post minimum qualification scores (MQS) for Paralympic Games qualification.
Roy Carter’s individual gold was won in the P5 10m standard air pistol competition. He shot 357 to finish in the top spot ahead of Frank Heitmeyer of Germany, who shot 346 and Geraldo Rosenthal of Brazil.
As well as Carter’s individual gold there was also three team golds for Great Britain.
In the R6 50m rifle prone SH1 mixed Matthew Skelhon led the qualification with score of 621.8 but finished fourth in the final behind Suranji Laslo of Serbia, Carlos Garletti of Brazil and London 2012 Paralympic silver medallist Juan Antonio Saavedra of Spain. Great Britain’s Karen Butler placed seventh in qualification round with a score 617.1 but finished the final in eighth place. The other Great Britain scores and positions were: Ben Jesson finished 15th with score of 610.3; Mandy Pankhurst finished 17th with 609.9; Lorraine Lambert finished 20th with 607.2; Lesley Baldwin finished 30th with 595.1 and Owen Burke finished 32nd with 593.8. The team of Matt Skelhon, Ben Jesson and Lorraine Lambert combined scores to win the team gold ahead of Slovakia and Korea.
Great Britain’s second team gold came in the R8 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 women. In this event Karen Butler finished fourth with a final score of 421.3. She was placed seventh with a score 554 in the qualification round but just missed out on a podium spot. The gold medal was won by Xiaohong Bai of China and silver went to Veronika Vadovicova from Slovakia. Great Britain’s Lorraine Lambert finished sixth in the final and Lesley Baldwin was ninth. Their scores were then combined to see them win the team gold.
The third and final team gold was won by Great Britain’s women in the R2 10m air rifle SHI women. Mandy Pankhurst finished fourth after the finals. Her qualification score was 392 and she placed eighth overall. Lorraine Lambert finished seventh in the finals. Her qualification score was 398.8 and she placed sixth. Lesley Baldwin finished eighth in the finals. Her qualification score was 395.8 and she placed seventh. The team of Pankhurst, Lambert and Baldwin then combined to take the team gold.
Paralympic medallist Matthew Skelhon (pictured) won an individual bronze in the R3 10m air rifle prone mixed SH1 before winning team silver, alongside Ben Jesson and Lorraine Lambert. Skelhon won the bronze after qualifying for the final in second with a score 636.3.Veronika Vadovicova from Slovakia won the gold and Massimo Croci from Italy won the silver. Meanwhile Lesley Baldwin finished 18th with 628.6; Ben Jesson finished 25th with 626.6; Lorraine Lambert finished 28th with 626.3; Mandy Pankhurst finished 31st with 624.3. The scores for Jesson, Lambert and Skelhon were then combined for them to win the team silver, ahead of China with bronze but behind Slovakia with the gold.
It was Stewart Nangle who won Great Britain’s second individual bronze medal, placing third in the P1 10m air pistol men SH1. He was placed fourth following the qualification round with a score 565. Oleksil Denysiuk of Ukraine won the gold, while silver went to Chao Yang of China. Great Britain’s Roy Carter finished 19th with a score 544.
In other competitions, Owen Burke finished 10th in the R7 50m rifle 3 position SH1 men with a score 1117, and Kyrun Spraggs finished 15th in the R4 10m air rifle standing SH2 mixed, with a score 623.9.
In the P4 50m Pistol SH1 Men, Stewart Nangle was second in qualification with a score of 535 but he finished fifth overall. Meanwhile in the R5 10m air rifle prone SH2 mixed Kyrun Spraggs finished 25th with a score of 627.9 and in the R1 10m air rifle standing SH1 men Owen Burke just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the final.
The Great Britain Team was supported by Pasan Kularatne, (Performance Director and Head Coach), Mike Babb (Rifle Coach) Vladimir Filimonov (Pistol Coach), Kapila De Alwis (Coach/ Support Staff), Desi Gillespie (Physiotherapist) and Jane Wilson (Support Staff).