Irish junior men's team win Silver medal in 10m Air rifle competition.

Sparks

11th GB Junior International Match, Bisley 5th - 8th August 2003

Irish junior men's team win Silver medal in 10m Air rifle competition.

The Irish juniors men's team of Richard Stapleton, Liam Spillane and
Ryan Lynn scored an impressive 1692/1800 to win the silver medal in
the air rifle competition at Bisley on Wednesday last 5th of August.
The Irish score was only five points behind the Americans who took
Gold. The GB team scored 1676 to take bronze. The competition was
conducted under very difficult conditions with heat reaching 34
degrees C .

In the individual air rifle match, all three Irish athletes qualified
for the final. Richard Stapleton scored 665.3/709 to take bronze. Liam
Spillane scored 662.0 and finished 6th and Ryan Lynn scored 653.1 and
finished 8th . The Irish team were pleased with their team
performance but were somewhat disappointed with their individual
scores on the day.

Richard Stapleton was again in action on day two of the competition,
taking part in the very demanding men's 50m 3 position match using .22
rifle. Richard qualified again for the final with a score of
1083/1200. In the final he scored 87.6/109 giving him a combined score
of 1170.6/1309. He won the bronze medal.

On day three, all Irish athletes were in action. Richard taking part
in the men's 50m prone match while Liam and Ryan were shooting in the
air rifle Grand prix match. Richard scored 575/600 to finish 13th .
Marvin Reiting of Germany took gold with a score of 584/600. In the
grand prix match, Liam scored 565/600 to take bronze behind Chris
Lacey of the GB team who took gold with a score of 577. Ryan Lynn
finished fourth with a score of 561/600, which equals his own personal
best.

Dick Stapleton was team manager and Matt Fox was team coach. Dick
Stapleton also acted as a competition judge and Matt Fox was honoured
by the organizers and was asked to present medals to the winners on
day three of the event, which he was delighted to do. At the closing
ceremony Matt was also asked to make one of the closing speeches on
behalf of the Irish team. Pat O'Brien, Chairman of the National Target
Shooting Association of Ireland (NTSAI) joined the team on Friday and
congratulated them on their fine achievement and effort.

This was a very successful trip, a lot was learned, many, many new
friends made and a very good week for Irish target shooting.

Geoff Cooney



Richard Stapleton on right with his bronze medal for the 50m men's 3 P
match.



Irish Silver medal team on the left with Richard Stapleton, centre,
Ryan Lynn, left, and Liam Spillane, right at the awards ceremony for
Men's Air Rifle. USA team centre win Gold and GB team on right
receiving Bronze. (Photos courtesy of GB junior website)

irishman_abroad

Fair play Well done lads

Sparks

Something to be noted is that the Irish team came in ahead of the GB team despite the fact that the GB team has government funding and support, whereas the Irish juniors have sod all of either!

Sparks

And another point of note is that Richard and Liam both shot MQSs - Minimum Qualifying Scores. That means that if we got a quota place for the Athens Olympics, they'd be eligible to represent Ireland there...
Not bad for a few kids that get no government support and lots of government hassle, is it?