Florida Open Pistol Shooting Tournament: Jamaica’s Practical Pistol shooters were in impressive form as they delivered a solid performance at the recently concluded Florida Open Pistol Shooting Tournament in Fostproof, Florida.
Despite going up against Grand Master shooters from about twelve countries including the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, countries in Europe, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago from the Caribbean, the local team who are all members of the Jamaica Rifle Association (JRA) displayed the skills and persistence needed to overcome the odds and collected several awards in the process. Overall there were about two hundred competitors on the range during the tournament.
Ryan Bramwell, one of Jamaica’s Master Class shooters copped second place in the Carry Optics Division (Master Class). Pistol captain Alrice Palmer walked away with first place in the B Class category while Thomas Hall finished third in C Class and Adrian Randle was fourth in A class. Ekpedeme Otoukon was awarded second place in the Senior category.
According to Bramwell, the only Master Class shooter who travelled with the team, “I am really proud of my team’s achievement. Based on the growth and development of the male and female members of this team and the club, I am seeing where we will have several Master Class shooters in the near future.”
It was a clean sweep for the men in the Limited Division B Class as Darin Richards was first, Owen Campbell second and Ellesworth Dixon was third. Campbell also finished first in the Senior Category of his Division.
Jamaica also had representation in the Open and Production Division where Bernard Lawrence (Open Division) and Sanjay Welsh (Production Division) were equally impressive, copping third place in C Class and second place in B Class respectively.
The two Alpha Angels female shooters on tour were not to be outdone as Constable Shayon Francis was on target after finishing in first place in the Carry Optics C Class. She was also second in the Carry Optics Lady Category while team captain Detective Corporal Sasha-Gay Mullings finished in third place.
“The match was a very good one. The shooting stages were fun and I’m really happy with my performance and by extension my team’s performance. We could have even done better, however some of our members had equipment malfunction and we dropped some points on those stages but our team did exceptionally well nonetheless” said Francis.
A shooting match cannot take place without safety officials and Jamaica is known for some of the best gun safety officials in the sport. Evan Medley who placed fourth in the Production Division and Keith Miller were among the range officers who officiated the match.
