Aim and shoot to score
Limpopo's practical shooting teams took top honours at the South African Handgun Practical Shooting Championships that took place just outside Polokwane over the weekend.
POLOKWANE – Limpopo’s practical shooting teams took top honours at the South African Handgun Practical Shooting Championships that took place just outside Polokwane over the weekend.
“We made the course as challenging as possible in order to uphold the standard that has become synonymous with the Limpopo Practical Shooting Association,” said Paul Eksteen, match director.
“Some of the competitors compared the course to that of the world championships,” he added.
The South African handgun competition forms part of the South African Three Gun Championships, which consists of three tournaments, where South Africa’s top practical gunmen compete with rifles, shotguns and handguns.
Thinus Botha and Eksteen won the overall South African Three Gun Championships in their respective divisions.
Eksteen won the open division of the championships with an astounding 100% accuracy rate in the shotgun competition, 90,68% accuracy in the rifle competition and 99,5% accuracy in the handgun competition.
Botha was the overall winner of the standard division of the South African Three Gun Championships, scoring an impressive 100% accuracy in the rifle competition, 86,87% accuracy in the shotgun competition and 89,82% accuracy in the handgun competition.
Both Limpopo teams won trophies for best shooters in the three gun championships.
In the open division, Eksteen, Paul Zorn, Philip Smit and Dion du Bruyn won the team competition.
Botha, Franco Rossouw and Charles Bresler won the standard division.
In the handgun championships, Eksteen won a silver medal in the handgun standard division, with an amazing 99,5% accuracy rate.
In the production category, Botha won a bronze medal with an 89,8% accuracy rate.
Smit took second place in the open category of the handgun championships with a 78% accuracy rate.
The next national selection match will take place on February 14 and 15 in Polokwane, where the national team will be selected for the World Practical Shooting Championships, which will take place in Russia.
“We are confident that at least half of the team members in the open and standard division will come from Limpopo,” said Eksteen.
