MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland's team update in the Commonwealth Games

Falklands marksman Graham Didlick achieved a personal best of 530 in the Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol - Singles at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. This bettered his previous best of 509 by 21 points. Graham finished in 23rd position, just 3 points behind Ian Harris of Wales.

In the early morning Precision section Graham scored 86, (100), 90 & 91. In the Rapid Fire disciplines he scored 86, 88 & 89.

Graham expressed his satisfaction at having achieved a p.b. and by such a considerable margin. His score will have given him considerable confidence ahead of next year's Island Games in Guernsey.

The gold medal went to Jaspal Rana of India who scored 583. The silver to Bruce Quick of Australia on 579 and the bronze went to Ishrad Ali of Pakistan who finished on 577. He was the only shooter to achieve the maximum of 100, but a poor 93 in the first Rapid Fire section shoot saw him lose his early advantage.

The Falklands shooting team recorded many fine scores throughout the 10 days of competition. Saul Pitaluga's 23rd placing (from a field of 37) with a score of 105 ensured a p.b. for him, and confirmed his position as a quality Commonwealth clay pigeon competitor. Gareth Goodwin and Derek Pettersson established a new Commonwealth Games Pairs score, beating the previous record by a massive 22 points, while Gareth secured the highest ever placing (24th) and the highest score (390) for a Falklands competitor in the Individual Full-Bore rifle event.

Accordingly Gareth Goodwin has won the Falklands Chef de Mission's 'Performance of Merit' medal award for his record breaking performances in the Games.

Patrick Watts ? Manchester

For more information see our Commonwealth Game's link on the front page.