Four Komani shottists are set to take part in the 2019 World Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Federation (WRABF) world championships in Pretoria.
The four locals who are part of the Eastern Cape Precision Sport Shooting Federation (ECPSSF) are Willem van der Linde, Carl van der Linde, Johan de Beer and Rynard de Beer and will be taking part in the championship, which will end on Thursday .
Van der Linde and his son, Willem, have also been included in the Proteas team. The two had qualified for the previous championship in Slovenia in 2017, when Willem returned with a bronze medal in the junior category.
Meanwhile Johan de Beer and his son Rynard, who is a Hangklip Primary School grade 5 pupil, have qualified to participate as federation members in the world championship.
They will participate in the light varmint and heavy varmint disciplines which represent the two different rifles they will shoot with.
The four are also part of the South Africa Precision Sport Shooting Federation (SAPSSF) which comprises the Western Cape, Boland, EC, Free State, South Gauteng and Northern Gauteng and is part of the WRABF.
“The Eastern Cape Precision Sport Shooting Federation (SAPSSF) was established in 2015 by Paul van Gass, a former Protea shottist in Komani. The shooting range is at Hangklip High School.
We regularly participate at other provincial shoots as well as local shoots and our most recent event was a provincial competition at Hangklip High in June.
“The sport is about dedication and focus and it does not require one to be a physically strong athlete. It teaches one to be patient and it’s also about accuracy. We will be up against 16 countries with 169 participants. South Africa will host the championships for the first time. In 2017 South Africa took the most medals and we are hoping to do the same this year. We wish our participants the best of luck.”
