The Weekend of 23-24 February 2018 was a very busy and historic event for SAARA.

Although we shot a previous NW open on electronic targets in 2012, this was the first time that SAARA hosted a 10m Olympic event on our own electronic targets. This resulted in a very busy day to accommodate all 39 entries on the 8 targets we have available. There were a few delays but in the end we successfully shot all the relays and finished on time. It was great to see the parents and spectators nervously watching the “big screen” while the athletes were shooting.

Visit the SAARA Gallery for some photos of the event.

This was also the first SAARA Open where we shot under the revised ISSF rules where the Ladies shot a 60 shot match, the same as the men’s athletes. Overall the ladies did very well and in all the events the ladies beat the best men’s scores in both the senior and junior categories. This resulted in new SAARA records being set for the ladies as follows:

10m Olympic ladies senior – Tanya Snyders with a score of 614.9
10m Olympic ladies junior – Lyjani Schonken with a score of 611.6
10m Sporter ladies junior and senior – Desirie du Toit with a score of 536.

I am sure these new ladies records will tumble in the upcoming matches.

This match was also used as the special trials for the selection of our junior Protea and development teams. Both these teams will take part in the ISSF junior world cup in Suhl, Germany from 22 to 29 June 2018.

The teams are as follows:

Junior Protea men - Johan Grobbelaar and HJ van Staden
Junior Protea women –Lyjani Schonken, Samantha Alexander, Caitlin Oelofse and Martelize Pretorius

Development men – JC Moller and Tristan Swanepoel
Development Women – Shevaun Cronje

Team Manager – Alta Grobelaar, Junior Coach – Pepe Morton, Development Coach – Tom Cronje

Congratulations to these athletes and we wish you all of the best with your preparations for this exiting tour.

Congratulations to Barto Pienaar and Pierre Basson (seen here at the 2017 African Shooting Championships). They have been selected to represent Team South Africa at the XXI Commonwealth Games that will be held during April 2018 in Brisbane, Australia.

Your hard work has been rewarded and all of the best with your final preparations.

SAARA Nationals 10m air rifle Champions, From the left, Danielle du Preez (10m Sporter Women), Jané van Geems (10m Olympic Women), Barto Pienaar (10m Olympic Men), Philip Haussamer (10m Sporter Men).

Congratulations on a great performance in the finals