Gareth Morris of Wales beat the conditions and a strong field to bag the Queen's prize individual gold with a total of 397 out of 405 in the Commonwealth Shooting full bore championship that concluded at the CRPF range, Kadarpur, on Saturday.
The start was delayed by nearly by an hour as the shooters could not see the targets itself, placed at 1000 yards, and had to wait till the numbers relating to the lanes of the targets were strategically placed at 300 yards.
Having trailed overnight by one point behind leader Petrus Haasbroek of South Africa, Morris clinched the issue fair and square in a heady climax with a three-point margin, following the best score of 71 out of 75 in the toughest phase of the competition over the longest distance.
“It was incredible hard work, but very rewarding,” gushed Morris after the triumph, as he emphasised that dusty and hot conditions along with an “interesting” wind had made it a challenging task for everyone.
Geoffrey Grenfell, the leader over the first three distances, did not figuring among the medals, as the Australian's appeal for two shots, that did not register on the electronic system in the 900-yard phase, was rejected by the ‘Jury of Appeal' earlier in the morning.
“I thought that the appeal would be upheld. I am incredibly sorry for the bloke. He was shooting so great. It is very disappointing,” Morris said.
On his part, Grenfell who finished 10th eventually with a total of 387, could not hide his disappointment. “The problem was with the electronic system. It kept happening but others were given chances,” said the 49-year-old Grenfell, a gunsmith by profession.
Grenfell finished second in pairs competition along with James Corbett, eight points behind the Kiwis, and one point ahead of the team from Northern Ireland. The Indian pair of Major Amit Khanna and Praveen Dahiya shot 61 and 64 points in the 1000-yard competition to finish at the bottom of eight teams.
The results: Queen's prize (pairs): 1. New Zealand (John Snowden 295, Michael Collings 290) 585; 2. Australia (Geoffrey Grenfell 294, James Corbett 283) 577; 3. Northern Ireland (David Calvert 293, Gary Alexander 283) 576; 8. India (Amit Khanna 260, Praveen Dahiya 259) 519.
Queen's prize (individual): 1. Gareth Morris (Wal) 397; 2. Petrus Haasbroek (RSA) 394 (41v); 3. James Corbett (Aus)394 (33v).
