Anthony Bailey emerged as champion at the 20th annual Top Gun Handgun Shooting Championships at the Tucker Valley Range, Chaguaramas on Saturday. Bailey accumulated 911.5603 points after the ten stages of the contest to beat a field of the 25 of the best shooters in the country.
The Defence Force marksman reclaimed the title he first won in 2014 and improved on his sixth place finish last year. With the support of his father, son and wife cheering him on, Bailey won three stages—three, four and six - and showed great consistency, finishing in the top four in other seven areas. He was second in Stages one, five, seven, eight, nine and 10 and fourth in Stage 2.
“Today there were ten exciting stages and I am really grateful I was able to hold it together and come out with the victory. It was very humid and very taxing on your feet as we were walking about all day so I was a bit fatigued. However, I was able to hold my mental game together and take the victory,” said Bailey, thankful for the victory.
Defending champion Darren Jagpersad had to settle for second place this year with 805.2661 points. Jagpersad claimed Stage one and nine and was second in Stage two. He was third in Stages three and fourth in Stages four and five. Marlon Moses (720.4053) took third spot after securing Stage two and was second in Stages three and four and was fourth in stages one and six.
Bailey said that surrendering the title in 2015 spurred him to want to win this year.
“Losing last year was the motivating factor for me. Last year I was the defending champion and I came sixth and I was really disappointed after putting a lot of hard work but I was not able to win. So I went back to the drawing board and came out with the victory today.”
Bailey also praised the efforts of the second and third place finishers, saying: “Darren Jagpersad is master like myself and is a really good shooter also Marlon Moses. So I know those two would have been my main rivals today (Saturday). The competition was excellent the TRA and other shooting clubs put on really good show. “
Gerard Persad (720.4053), Avesh Phagoo (666.1206), Christopher John (633.3146), Mohammed Ali (609.3146), Nigel Marchand (606.4511), Jude Gordon (587.9816) and Dave Ramlal (583.5976) completed the top ten finishers.
Bailey was rewarded for his consistency as he was named the “Most Accurate Shooter” on the day ahead of Moses, Jagpersad and Phagoo and also was the “Top Military” competitor. Persad was the “Top Law Enforcement Officer” at the meet while Ramlal took home the “Top Senior” honours.
“I was happy with my mental performance, most importantly. Amidst all the humidity, fatigue, noise and complex stages I was pleased with how I held it together,” said the two-time winner.
Aneel Ramjit collected the “Top First Time Entry” trophy. Marchand (stage five), Phagoo (stage seven), Ali (stage eight) Persad (stage 10) were other stage winners.
Bailey took the lead after the mid-way stage of the competition. After the end of stages four, five, six, eight and nine in the morning session, Bailey was ahead of Jagpersad, Persad and Moses, Ali, John, Anderson and Kelston Anderson. Stages one, two, three, four and seven were held during the afternoon period.
Brian Armstrong was the best of the two Tobago shooters in the competition finishing 19th (519.0532) with Walt Reid in 23rd (361.5227). Armstrong was also third in Stage 10 and was fifth in the “Most Accurate” category.
AWARDS
Most Accurate—Anthony Bailey
Top Military—nthony Bailey
Top Law Enforcement-Gerard Persad
Top Senior—Dave Ramlal
Top First Time Entry—Aneel Ramjit
RESULTS
Overall
1 Anthony Bailey (911.5603), 2 Darren Jagpersad (805.2661), 3 Marlon Moses (742.8799), 4 Gerard Persad (720.4053), 5 Avesh Phagoo (666.1206), 6 Christopher John (633.3146), 7 Mohammed Ali (609.3146), 8 Nigel Marchand (606.4511), 9 Jude Gordon (587.9816), 10 Dave Ramlal (583.5976), 11 Kelsto Anderson (563.9743, 12 Ramadin Ramnarine (554.6243), 13 Ken Williams (540.2912), 14 Peter Frederick (535.6120), 15 Richard Hopkinson (529.8211), 16 Aneel Ramjit (525.2467), 17 Dale Singh (423.4351), 18 Kelvin Sebastine (521.5628), 19 Brian Armstrong (519.0532), 20 Nicolas Ali (426.4989), 21 Roger Umaid (378.0722), 22 Amarnath Bridgelal (266.3386), 23 Walt Reid (361.5227), dq Devanad Bhagwhansingh, Tarike Phillip
STAGES
Stage 2 (No Escape): 1 Moses, 2 Jagpersad, 3 Phagoo, 4 Bailey, 5 Ramnarine, 6 Persad, 7 Sabastien, 8 Ramlal
Stage 3 (Bring It): 1 Bailey, 2 Moses, 3 Jagpersad, 4 Persad, 5 Anderson, 6 Marchand, 7 Singh, 8 Hopkinson
Stage 4 (December To Remember): 1 Bailey, 2 Moses, 3 John, 4 Jagpersad, 5 Anderson, 6 Anderson, 7 Williams, 8 Persad
Stage 5 (Mission Accepted) : 1 Marchand, 2 Bailey, 3 Persad, 4 Jagpersad, 5 Ali, 6 John, 7 Gordon, 8 Phagoo
Stage 6 (Standards For Pro Only): 1 Bailey, 2 Phagoo, 3 Moses, 4 Frederick, 5 Armstrong, 6 Gordon, 7 Ali, 8 Jagpersad
Stage 7 (You Have My Attention): 1 Phagoo, 2 Bailey, 3 Hopkinson, 4 Moses, 5 Persad, 6 Ramjit, 7 Marchand, 8 Jagpersad
Stage 8 (An Affair To Remember): 1 Ali, 2 Bailey, 3 Anderson, 4 Persad, 5 Ramlal, 6 Singh, 7 Moses, 8 Marchand
Stage 9 (Unleash) 1 Jagpersad, 2 Bailey, 3 Phagoo, 4 Persad, 5 Moses, 6 Ali, 7 Gordon, 8 Hopkinson
Stage 10 (Not An Illusion) 1 Persad, 2 Bailey, 3 Armstrong, 4 Phagoo, 5 John, 6 Moses, 7 Jagpersad, 8 Ramlal
Most Accurate: 1 Bailey, 2 Moses, 3 Jagpersad, 4 Phagoo, 5 Armstrong, 6 Persad, 7 Frederick, 8 Ramnarine