PISTOL SHOOTING - Varsity Match Report.
Monday 1 March 2010
Date: 21/02/10 Location: Wantage
This year’s pistol Varsity match was held at Oxford’s Wantage range on the 21st February between CURPC and OUPC. Cambridge had so far enjoyed a very successful season with a squad comprising both experienced members (having recently competed at county or international level) and many new and talented shooters. However, last year’s small-bore Varsity was won by a very close margin and the summer Universities Imperial match lost by only a single point, making the recent competition extremely close.
The Varsity match follows the ‘standard pistol’ course of fire (shot with air pistols, but gauged for a .22 pistol round), comprising precision and rapid fire rounds shot in teams of four over 20 yards. This year’s competition saw Oxford hosting, giving the dark blue side the home ground advantage. Both teams started strongly, shooting shoulder to shoulder, Cambridge with Oxford. However unfamiliar range conditions threw a number of the Cambridge side allowing Oxford to pull into an early lead. Equipment problems then put paid to Cambridge’s 4th man’s hopes of a comeback allowing Oxford to claim victory in the A team match.
The CURPC ladies team on the other hand managed to successfully deal with all these setbacks (including a gun malfunction), despite the squad consisting mostly of novices. An ability to remain calm under pressure is of course crucial to any competitive shooting sport, and the squad clearly rose to this on the day with a personal best score from ladies captain Wenjun Qu helping to secure the 2010 ladies trophy.
Cambridge teams:
A squad: James Bullock (captain), Vin Shen Ban, Clark Barrett, Jase Taylor (total score 2041)
B squad: Emma Kirby, Pradipta Biswas, James Blackstone, Sean Ng (total score 1839)
Ladies squad: Wenjun Qu (ladies captain), Sophie Reed, Jess Touschek, Dominique Iste (total score 1918)
VARSITY PISTOL SHOOTING MATCH 2010
Winner: Oxford
Score: 2041-2139
Winner (ladies): Cambridge
Score (ladies): 1918-1852
