TT shooters aim for BWIA Cup at Chag

TRINIDAD and Tobago shooters will be aiming to break the stranglehold of their counterparts from Jamaica in the annual Caribbean Championships for the prestigious BWIA Cup. The competition, bringing together the best marksmen from reigning champions Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and hosts Trinidad and Tobago, gets going on Tuesday at the rehabilitated Trinidad Rifle Association Range at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas. The six-day affair was originally scheduled for Jamaica but has been rescheduled for Chaguaramas to  mark the auspicious occasion of the 125th anniversary of the TRA, reputed to the oldest local sports organisation. Yesterday Michael Perez, Public Relations Officer of the Fullbore Section of the TRA said in addition to the four Caribbean countries, two European nations — England and Ireland — will send representatives as well as Bermuda. “In all, close to 83 shooters will be in action comprising 48 foreigners and 35 locals during the championships. It’s going to pretty big,” said Perez.

The full complement of overseas participants is: Jamaica (8), Barbados (13), Guyana (14), England (4), Ireland (4); and Bermuda (5). “We were also xpecting a Canadian contingent but unfortunately they could not make it but we are assured of some exciting competition,” said Perez. At stake will be the valuable BWIA Cup, which is the latest symbol of regional shooting supremacy replacing the first award, the Anchor Cup which was itself superceded by the WITCO Cup. The BWIA Cup, which has been insured for more than one million dollars goes to the winners of the Fullbore Championships, with all scores from the eight-member teams counting towards the final aggregate. There is also the Hoggart Cup, an individual prize for the highest scoring shooter. Perez said that this year, apart from competition in the Caribbean Championships, local shooters will be engaged in a “tournament in a tournament” for National Championship honours.

Also separate competitions will be stage to engage the European shooters and Bermuda because they cannot take part in the Caribbean Championships. Favourites this year for the BWIA Cup are Jamaica, led by the phenomenal Junior Brown who three years ago made clean sweep of the honours — air rifle, pistol, centre fire, shot gun, Trap and Skeet; and fullbore. He is expected to lead the Jamaican charge for a beaver-trick after dominating the Caribbean Championships for the past three years. From Guyana, Mahendra Persad, winner of the Tucker Aggregate at the world famous Bisley Shoot last year in England will carry the hopes of his nation. Also in the team is Rainsford Goodluck a top shooter with a reputation of rising to the occasion. Of added interest at the Caribbean Championships will be the presence of Dr Wordsworth Price, a Trinidad and Tobago national who has been living in England for many years.

The 74-year-old physicist is a former student of Queen’s Royal College, Port-of-Spain, and the only non-Briton and West Indian to have captured the prestigious Queen’s Prize and St George’s Cup at the Imperial Meeting in England. Perez said that while all is in place to host the Caribbean Championships and other competitions involving local shooters and the foreign invitees, the Singer Cup, another prestigious shoot will have to be deferred. Reason is that the expected extension of the range at Tucker Valley did not materialise and the contest is slated for next year in Jamaica when the 2005 Caribbean Championships are held. “The Singer Cup is shot between 900 and 1,000 yards but here in Chaguaramas we can only shoot up to 600 yards,” Perez explained.