Robert Yap emerged HOA Champion with a score of 40/50 during last Sunday’s challenging Trap layout as the Jamaica Skeet Club (JSC) continued preparations for the Pan American (Pan Am) Games in October.

Shaun Barnes finished a point behind Yap with 39/50, while Paul Josephs scored 37 (B Class 1st) and Brett Thwaites, 36. Khaleel Azan, Bruce Duquesnay and Robert Reid scored 35 each, while 14-year-old Chad Ziadie topped the junior and E classes with a promising score of 32/50.

Thirty members, including juniors and seniors, tested their skills at the event.

Olympic Trap shooting was established this year as part of the National Shotgun Championships. The national champion will be decided in July, based on scores in Skeet, Sporting clays, Five-stand and Olympic Trap.

JSC president Brett Thwaites said members will be chosen over the next few months to compete for Jamaica at the Pan Am Games.

“Three members of the Jamaica Skeet Club will be selected over the next six months to represent Jamaica at the Pan American Games in Mexico in October 2011,” said Thwaites.

The JSC currently does not have an Olympic Trap layout, but Thwaites said members will continue to train with the outdated traps with the hope that the government or private sector organisations may assist the club in acquiring 15 Olympic Traps.

In the Olympic Trap layout six persons shoot in rotation at 25 targets, with five individuals facing the 15 traps and one remaining on standby. The targets are thrown randomly from any of three traps located in front of each shooter.