SportGibraltar

The Welsh Small Bore Rifle Team, have recently returned to the U.K. after spending some time in Gibraltar.

David Phelps, one of the members of the squad, stated the reasons for their visit: "The Welsh smallbore rifle assocciation has been attending the Club in Gibraltar since 2005. We did most of our training there for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and have since been back there with our larger squad. Its a very good venue due to the light, climate and facilities available to us".

Their main contact in Gibraltar is Helouise Manasco, (bottom picture) the top Gibraltarian air rifle shooter, who also attended the Commonwealth Games in Australia, last year, where She did extremely well in the warm up competitions.

David also mentioned that "The range itself is at Europa point and is the furthest west part of Europe. The range has 18 firing points with Gehann type target changers, a good club house with the facilities one could want, including pool table".

"All in all we had a great time, got some really good quality training done and I think most of us achieved many goals we set out with. The weather may not have been the best for this camp but much better than back home (snow of all things) and did allow us to shoot in some trying conditions which we all coped well with.

On behalf of myself and the rest of the team I would like to thank all those who enabled this camp to take place. Special thanks to the Gibraltarian rifle club for the use of their facilities and to the members who came and opened up the range and made our visit very welcoming and friendly."

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14/3/06 Melbourne, Australia.

Heloise Manasco (pictured right) has achieved a very credible second place in the 25m pistol. Her second position in the warm up competition called a "Badge" is a good indicator as to who is in form and therefore has a good chance of winning a medal. What is even more significant is the fact she came one point behind the winner of the competition, Tejaswini Sawant from India. The Indians have a strong tradition in shooting. Let's hope that she will be able to outdo the Indian in the actual Games and bring back Gibraltar's first Gold and even our first Commonwealth medal.

Amongst Gibraltar's medal hopefuls will be Gibraltar's shooters, who will be competing in four disciplines - Prone rifle, Air rifle, Clay Pigeon, and Pistol. All our competitors have performed well in previous games as well as the Small Island Games. Our biggest chance of some silverware will come from two competitors the first being Heloise Manasco who at 26 has been competing for 12 years. She has achieved the greatest success in international competitions, winning a Gold and a silver in the Commonwealth Games Federation Championships (European Division) and two gold and two Silver medals in the Small Island Games. Wayne Piri and Ernest Peralta have also had success in competitions such as the Trofeo Iberico.

Mark Boulton, a pistol shooter, is also in with a slim chance of gaining Gibraltar's first Commonwealth medal. He has achieved success in international tournaments ar Centre Fire and Rapid Fire. His most significant win came in the 2005 Small Island Games where he won Gold and Silver.

We wish Heloise and all the other Gibraltarian athletes, our support.