Brandon Reid rules Junior Sporting Clays

Brandon Reid knew his title defence "was never gonna be easy", but the two-time National Commercial Bank (NCB) Capital Markets Junior Sporting Clays champion flew back to the island and made a successful defence of his title last Sunday.

With much composure, championship mettle and determination, he carved out a well-earned victory over some of the country's top juniors.

The Jamaica Skeet Club's shooting range, located in Portmore, St Catherine, was on fire as over 70 juniors battled their way through friendly rivalries in A, B and C; Sub-Junior A and B; Girls A and B and Beginners classes.

Reid, who entered the day in the enviable defending champion position, coolly saw off challengers to become overall champion with a score of 108 birds in the boys' 17-20 category.

He led superbly from the start with 90 of 100 birds, and 18 from 25 in the super six.

When the dust settled, the former Hillel Academy standout, now in sixth form at Taft High School in Connecticut, United States, was the top gun.

TWO-TIME WINNER

He has now won the event twice and was runner-up in 2014.

"Yeah, I came here confident, but I knew I had a lot of competition out here, so I had to stay focused. It was tougher than most years. It's usually on the medium to easy side, but today, it was on the medium to hard side. I just had to be focused and execute," Reid told The Sunday Gleaner.

Reid got his most severe test in the super six, where main challenger Nicholas Chen shot eight straight birds.

"I knew I had to shoot well at the last station to come out with the win," he stressed.

Chen shot a close 86 of 100, and an impressive 19 in the super six, to finish runner-up on 105.

Matthew Josephs' 85 was further boosted by 17 of 25 in the super six to give him a total of 102, and third.

Young Roman Tavares Finson made a superb super six debut against age 17-20 opponents, with an overall score of 100 (86) (14), while Zachary Chen (85) and (15) also registered 100.

Jamaica Skeet Club President Khaleel Azan lauded sponsors NCB Capital Markets Limited for hosting another massive and interesting event and for contributing to the 'ever-growing sport'.

" It feels so good to see such growth in the sport and the passion our young shooters are showing. It's probably one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life," the president said.

Najah Peterkin, NCB Capital Markets' manager of private finance services, said: "It feels good watching the juniors come up over these four years as sponsors. I feel like I have watched Brandon (Reid) and others grow up," she joked, adding that "sponsoring the sport works well for the NCB Group".

Class Winners:

A Class

Nickolai Clarke 88,

Zachary Chen 85

Simon Khouri 85

B Class

Thomas Hudson 80

Liam Johnston 77

John Paul Asher 73

C Class

Cameron Phang Sang 77

Dylan Fletcher 75

Adam Fletcher 62

Girls A Class 100 birds

Leah Azan with 76

Isabelle Chin 65

Girls B Class 50 Birds

Savannah Miller 47

Annabelle Chung 42

Anna Issa 41

Sub Juniors 100 birds

Roman Tavares Finson 86

Mark Desnoes 76

Sebastian Levy 68

Sub Juniors B Class

Zaniel Knight 78

Amir Azan 75

Nickolai Azan 70

Boys Sub Juniors C

Class 50 birds

Thmas Gore 42

Jordan Vaz 42

Noah Azan 41