Kenya's shooting team raring to go in Gold Coast

Maryanne Cheruiyot aims during a past competition. PHOTO | COURTESY |

What you need to know:

  • Owiti, who is making her third appearance at the “Club” Games and debutant Cheruiyot, will compete in women’s 10metre air pistol shoot at the Games that are due April 4-15 in Australia.
  • Owiti, a civilian, competed at the 2010 Delhi and 2014 Glasgow Games, finishing 27th in the qualifying round and failed to advance to the final.

Kenya’s shooting team for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games is complete after the selection of women firers Linet Owiti and Maryanne Cheruiyot respectively.

Owiti, who is making her third appearance at the “Club” Games and debutant Cheruiyot, will compete in women’s 10metre air pistol shoot at the Games that are due April 4-15 in Australia.

Owiti, a civilian, competed at the 2010 Delhi and 2014 Glasgow Games, finishing 27th in the qualifying round and failed to advance to the final.

Owiti and Cheruiyot, a pilot by profession, join three other firers, who had been picked earlier for the “Club” Games.

They are small-bore firers Gurupreet Dhanjal and Gulraaj Sehmi and Christopher Saina from full-bore.

Saina is the only other marksman besides Owiti to have competed at the 2014 Glasgow Games where he settled 20th overall.

The team will be handled by veteran and former national full-bore and small-bore champion Satiender Sehmi while Shoiab Vayani is the team manager.

FULL-BORE

Saina will compete in Queen’s Full-bore rifle while Dhanjal and Sehmi will battle in 10metre air rifle and in three positions in 50m rifle and 50m prone rifle.

Saina, the 2011, 2012 and 2014 national champion, returned an aggregate of 1853 points that included 143 vee-bulls to claim the only slot for full-bore for Gold Coast during the trials last month at the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Shooting Laikipia Range.

Saina beat fellow General Service Unit’s teammate Sanford Otundo, the 2015 and 2017 national champion, by 70 points on 1813.128v. Anthony Dodds, a civilian, returned 1808.130 for third place.

Dhanjal and Sehmi qualified automatically by virtue of having attained the universal qualifying standard mark of 587.

Dhanjal won both his maiden Kenya Open and Mini Bisley with 592 and 594 points respectively last year while Sehmi claimed the Colortunes and Shammi Singh Memorial championships with 595 and 596 points respectively.

Kenya will be represented by a contingent of 220 at the Gold Coast Games which includes 137 athletes supported a technical wing of 57 coaches and managers.

The remaining 31 personnel comprises 20 members of the steering committee, Games’ attaché and two deputies and six technical officials and two coaches, who have been invited by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

Kenya will field in 15 disciplines: athletics, athletics para, swimming, badminton, boxing, cycling, bowling, rugby sevens (men and women), shooting, squash, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, para weightlifting and wrestling.