Murdock shooting for top 10

• Grandmaster among local trio heading for World Shoot tourney in Greece

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica will shoot for another illustrious sports title when three of the island's top shooters go into battle at the 16th World Shoot competition to be staged in Rhodes, Greece, from October 3-8.

Lesgar Murdock, who is a grandmaster - the top tier of shooting - will lead the country's assault on the championship. Murdock is one of only two grandmasters in the Caribbean, with the other being Jamaica's Ronald Brown Jr.

Murdock, who will be shooting in the open division, will be joined by Anthony Johnson, who will also be shooting in the open division, and Orville Henriques, who will be competing in the standard division.

The trio will leave the island for Florida on Monday, where they will engage in a week of training before journeying to Greece on the 27th.

This is Murdock's third voyage to the tournament, having participated at the 2002 staging in South Africa and the 2005 staging in Ecuador. He placed 50th at the 2005 edition, but believes he is well poised for a much more improved showing this time around.

"From 2005 to now I have improved a lot," Murdock expressed. "The last time (2005) I was a 'B' Class shooter and now I am a grandmaster, which is the highest level in shooting.

"My aim is to finish in the top 10 as at this tournament only the top 10 finishers are recognised," he added.

Johnson is the most experienced of the trio, having been to five previous tournaments. He is responsible for the best showing by a Jamaican, having placed third. Johnson also won 11 stage medals at the 2005 tournament.

Training increases

With the tournament less than a month away, Murdock has increased his training from twice a week to daily, and will be using the one-week Florida training stint to work on some of his weak areas and get in some more shooting, as ammunition is much cheaper in the south-eastern state.

The tournament will feature more than 1,000 participants from 87 countries, competing in various categories, such as juniors, ladies, seniors, and super seniors. Each category is further separated into limited, open and production divisions. The competitors will tackle 30 courses of fire and each participant will shoot five courses per day.

Murdock will be using an open pistol or race gun during the tournament, which was provided by his Florida-based sponsor, Akai Gun Customs.

Murdock, whose 31st birthday is next week Tuesday, embarked on an aggressive campaign for sponsors and has garnered 13 in addition to Akai Gun Customs. These sponsors are: Family and Friends, Jamaica Rifle Association, National Commercial Bank, Zedoj Events & Weddings, Liquid Herbal Nitro, Miller's Liquor Store, Miramar Villas, McKay Security, K&C Haberdashery, A&A Dealers Jamaica Limited, Sasco Distributors, George Kirby Limited and Rum-Bar Rum.

"We are on our own as we had to seek our own sponsors, and we are on a drive to get some more sponsorship," Murdock said. "This has hampered our preparations, as we weren't able to practise as much as we wanted to, as we didn't have the amount of rounds we wanted."