Shooting: Sport faces an age-old problem

Protecting the ageing arms of veteran New Zealand shooters such as Graeme Ede and Greg Yelavich is one possible solution as the sport dissects its poor performance.

Four medals from 40 events was a poor return, particularly as funding agency Sparc had targeted 12.

Bad luck and the improvement of other nations contributed to the end result, said Shooting New Zealand's acting chief executive, Tony Waymouth.

But he accepted that the sport had a lot of work to do if it was to arrest its slumping Games fortunes.

New Zealand won eight medals at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and six at Manchester four years ago.

"We've already started a debrief in terms of our athletes and coaches," Waymouth said.

"That will be a starting point for Sparc and then we'll sit down and go through the reality of the situation. We'll look to find ways that we can remain competitive, to try to bridge that gap."

Ede's triumph in the men's trap was the obvious standout moment, winning an event which drew the biggest field of the Games - 41 shooters - and holding his nerve in a three-way shoot-off to take gold.

The late pistol silver to Yelavich was also special, extending his New Zealand record in all sports to 11.

Both the shooters are in their late 40s and Waymouth hoped they would continue blazing a trail.

"The reality is that Greg's been shooting for 20 years, the same with Graeme. As you get older the physicality starts to take its toll and these things [Games] are a long stretch," he said.

"It might be a case of having to manage programmes, taper it for them so they can continue."

Rifle shooter Juliet Etherington snared New Zealand's two other medals, a silver in the 50m prone event and bronze with Kathryn Mead in the pairs.

Waymouth denied suggestions that Sparc's 12-medal target was unrealistic.

Of the 53 New Zealand medal possibilities, 29 finished in the top half of their fields, but Waymouth noted many failed to convert once they were in medal positions.

"In many ways this was the best prepared team we've ever sent away," he said.

"We could have ended up with around eight medals. Then we would have been within cooee of that designated 12."

He said the final scores posted by New Zealanders were often better than expected but then so was the improvement from other Commonwealth nations, notably India and Singapore.

Singapore had thrown $4 million at their national programme in the past year and the Indian Government pays its large group of fully professional shooters large sums as it builds towards hosting the Games in 2010.

"They're moving towards trying to take on the world," Waymouth said.

"In terms of resources, that gap is growing bigger and bigger."

- NZPA