Teen shooter cops Bernard Cridland Memorial trophy
Sixteen-year-old junior shooter Zachary Harris shot 94/100 to win the Bernard Cridland Memorial Trophy and in the process created a huge upset in a field of 60 shooters including National Champion Shaun Barnes and other top shooters in Jamaica at the Jamaica Skeet Club in Portmore recently.
Veteran shooter, Errol Ziadie, in his presentation of the trophy and who was A class second with a score of 92, said “this is the first time that a C class shooter has ever won a major Sporting Clays tournament”, in reference to Harris’ achievement.
Harris and his coach Khaleel Azan both shot a score of 94/100, but Azan stated that “any junior who can defeat Jamaica’s top shooters when they have performed at their best, deserves to be the champion”.
The young champion said his whole life had changed through the sport of clay shooting. He says has a greater self image, more confidence and discipline which he has applied to all aspects of his life which resulted in him being selected Valedictorian and the recipient of the principal’s award of excellence at Liberty College at his graduation in June 2012.
Other highlights was the amazing shoot-off of five B class shooters who tied with a score of 86 to establish the winners . Sixteen-year-old Chad Ziadie shot an awesome 8/8 to defeat Marc Barnes 5/8 and Nicholas Chen 4/8 in a difficult target presentation.
The overall results are : Zachary Harris 94 champion, Khaleel Azan 94 runner-up; A1 Brett Thwaites 93; A2 Errol Ziadie 92; A3 Robert Yap 91; B1 Chad Ziadie86; B2 Marc Barnes 86; B3 Nicholas Chen 86; C1 David Lazarus 90; C2 Brandon Reid (jr)79; C3 Afeef Lazarus 79; D1 James Chen 82; D2 Isaac Mair 82; D3 Paul Burke 81; E1 Dwight Williams 78; E2 Michael Handal 77; E3 James Todd 77; Jr1 Zachary Harris; Jr2 Chad Ziadie, Nicholas Chen; Sub Junior 1 Andrew Azan 80; Sj2 Khristian Marley 74; Sj3 Zachary Murray 73.
Twenty Juniors participated in the tournament as part of their preparation for ClayFeva ,the annual inter-school sporting clay shoot which will be held at the Jamaica Skeet Club in Portmore on Sunday. Eleven high schools and over 70 students coached by Khaleel Azan will ‘gun’ for top honours .
