Sean Baldwin, Paralympian!

Sparks

Woot!

From the NTSA website:

Seán Baldwin - Paralympian!

The NTSA wishes to heartily congratulate Seán Baldwin (DFST) at the news that he has been selected to represent Ireland in the shooting events at the Paralympic Games in London!

On 31st August Seán will compete in 10m Air Rifle standing and on 1st September in 10m Air Rifle prone.

Tuesday 4th September will see Seán in action at the 50m prone event and in the 50m three position event on 5th.

Events timetable and athletes profiles available on the Paralympics Ireland website

As part of his preparation Seán will shoot prone at the ISSF World Cup in London. Seán is a relative newcomer to Paralympic Shooting, having started last year at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Alicante last May. Seán shot in the World Cup GB held at the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. He completed his MQS requirement in Sydney before Christmas. Seán is no stranger to big competition having competed in six CISM World Military Shooting Championships, two of which were held at World Military Games. This should hold him in good stead for his journey to London. We will be giving Seán every support in his endeavours.

Brilliant news!

Cass

Excellent news.

Sean is a top bloke, and an excellent shooter. Very best of luck to him.

fish slapped

Super news and all the best to Sean .

Fish

les45

On behalf of IPSC Ireland , May I wish Sean all the very best , to represent your Country at the Olympics is a unique and wonderful honour , the best of luck Sean , enjoy .


John FitzGerald RD IPSC Ireland

Sparks

Sean and the rest of the Paralympic team are now over in London.

There's been a wee bit of interest in him from the media

http://www.paralympics.ie/athlete/sean-baldwin/

http://kildare.tv/sean-baldwin-paralympic-target-shooter/

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/sport/kildare-sport/baldwin-and-kearney-picked-for-games-1-4068042

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/adrian-russell/injured-soldier-determined-to-shoot-for-stars-172095.html

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/656537/

And you might have caught him on the news earlier tonight as well

Cass

Sparks wrote: »

http://kildare.tv/sean-baldwin-paralympic-target-shooter/

Watching it reminds me that irrespective of the discipline you couldn't have a better man representing shooting sports.

Will be following his progress closely.

tonysopprano

Excellent publicity. About time for shooting sports. Sean for GOLD.

clivej

Is there anyway of checking when or what time the shooing is on TV???

Sparks

Not sure clive, but Channel Four should cover the Paralympics well, and the actual times of the events are linked to in the first post...

LB6

Seán Baldwin | Shooting

R1 – 10m Air Rifle SH1 Qualifiers Day 2 Friday 31st August 09:00 – 10:45 Royal Artillery Barracks

R1 – 10m Air Rifle SH1 Final* Day 2 Friday 31st August 12:30 – 13:05 Royal Artillery Barracks

Mixed R3 – 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Qualifiers Day 3 Saturday 1st September 13:15 – 14:30 Royal Artillery Barracks

Mixed R3 – 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Final* Day 3 Saturday 1st September 16:00 – 16:40 Royal Artillery Barracks

Mixed R6 – 50m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Qualifiers Day 6 Tuesday 4th September 09:00 – 10:15 Royal Artillery Barracks

Mixed R6 – 50m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Final* Day 6 Tuesday 4th September 11:30 – 12:10 Royal Artillery Barracks

R7 – 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 Qualifiers Day 7 Wednesday 5th September 09:00 – 12:20 Royal Artillery Barracks

R7 – 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 Final* Day 7 Wednesday 5th September 14:00 – 14:45 Royal Artillery Barracks

cavan shooter

Hope he does well, scandalous to think he has no recognition (as in money) etc saw your letter in the examiner and saw a snip on the news.

Sparks

cavan shooter wrote: »

Hope he does well, scandalous to think he has no recognition (as in money) etc saw your letter in the examiner and saw a snip on the news.

Well, he's recognised by the IOC, the ISSF, the OCI and the PCI - it's literally just the ISC that has the problem CS. They did contribute some money after he made the team, but only for the duration of the games and I don't know how much of that funding will get eaten up just competing in the games.

I don't think Sean will just lie down and give up over it though

Chiparus

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=10043727

from 18.20

Tikkat3

Saw him in training on a pretty arduous session in U.L. a few weeks ago using the electronic trainer.

Best of luck to him in the competition, must try and get to see it on the box or at least record it.

It wasn't me!

He's gotten some money from the sports council now, but I doubt it'll do more than cover this season, if even. Certainly he deserves it plenty well!

Cass

I see he is in the Mail today. Good spread, and more coverage.

Sparks

Heard from the lads earlier today, they were heading from Lisbon to London at the time...

Sparks

Paralympics symbol is up on Tower Bridge...

Sparks

RTE's piece on Sean is up on youtube now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrlMl8qJQSo

Sparks

From the NTSA website:

Sean Baldwin featured in IT article
From the Irish Times Saturday 25th August 2012


AT THE Paralympic Games, everybody has a story. Seán Baldwin was 36 years old when the Land Rover carrying him and fellow army ranger Derek Mooney careered off a bric-a-brac road 40 kilometres south of the Liberian capital Monrovia. Mooney died in the accident, just a fortnight after getting engaged at the age of 33. Baldwin smashed his skull, his shoulder blades, his ribs and his pelvis.

In order to stabilise him for the air ambulance home, medics had to amputate his right leg just below the knee. His lung collapsed and he was on a ventilator for six weeks, by which time a flesh-eating disease had attacked his leg so badly that they had to amputate again, this time above the knee. This all happened nine years ago.

Click the link above to read the full article.

Sean's schedule of events:
Men's R1-10m Air Rifle Standing-SH1 - Royal Artillery Barracks - Friday, 31st August 09:00
Mixed R3-10m Air Rifle Prone-SH1 - Royal Artillery Barracks - Saturday, 1st September 13:15
Mixed R6-50m Rifle Prone-SH1 - Royal Artillery Barracks - Tuesday, 4th September 09:00
Men's R7-50m Rifle 3 Positions-SH1 - Royal Artillery Barracks - Wednesday, 5th September 09:00

ranger4

Best of luck Sean.

Cass

Was watching some of the women's 10mtr air rifle, and i see a lady by the name of Libby Kosmala is doing well. She is 70 years old.



That's some ambassador for the the sport.

Sparks

Sean gets a mention from TheJournal.ie:

In addition, Sean Baldwin placed 18th out of 49 competitors in the mixed R6-50m rifle prone-SH1. It was Baldwin’s best performance of the Paralympics, as he recorded a personal best of 585.

However he narrowly missed out on a place in the eight-man final by a margin of four marks, and afterwards, he said: “I’m happy with that performance in tricky conditions. I was aiming for 590 as I reckoned that would be the qualifying mark for the final but I am satisfied with the PB and I am well set up for my final competition tomorrow”.

Sparks

Another nice mention of Sean in TheJournal.ie today:

Following his encouraging 18th place finish yesterday, Sean Baldwin is in action again at 9am today, as he competes in the 50m Rifle 3 positions SH1 qualifiers.