The Jamaica Rifle Association’s (JRA) pistol shooting team delivered a commendable performance at the Florida State United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Championships which were held recently in Frostproof, USA.

Contending in a pool of close to 250 entrants, mostly from North and South America, the Jamaicans won prizes in every division they contested. At the head of the pack was Lesgar Murdock who won the highly competitive Open Division. Murdock scored 1,426 points to top the category, which was contested by 68 shooters.

Jamaicans Rory Wilson and Duane Samuels placed 26th and 38th with 1,072 and 959 points, respectively.

Another great showing came from Darin Richards who racked up 1,121 points to win the ‘A’ Class of the Production Division and place fourth overall. His teammate Chris Nunez placed 15th and was fourth in the ‘B’ Class with 893 points.

Sanjay Welsh, who made 805 points, finished in 20th place and was second in ‘C’ Class, while Team Captain Paul Shoucair was 22nd with 778.

In the Limited Division, Ryan Bramwell earned 1,239 points to take second place in the A Class and finish fifth overall in a field of 49 competitors.

Putting Jamaica’s performance in perspective, Bramwell, who also serves on the Jamaica Rifle Association’s executive said: “I think we had a fantastic showing at the Florida State championships. It’s one thing when we compete well locally but when we can do well internationally it proves that our programme is getting the desired results and Jamaican shooters can compete with people who have far more resources for training and preparation than us – and we can win.”

The shooters now look forward to the Florida Open Pistol Tournament in February as well as the highly anticipated USPSA Area 6 Championships, also in Florida, in March.