Shooting: Mudford takes parting shot over Games omission

A stoush has broken out in New Zealand shooting with Jarrod Mudford saying he was unfairly left out of the team for this month's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The Hamilton trapshooter says the New Zealand Shooting Federation was wrong to select Alan Sinclair instead of him in the men's trap event and lodged an appeal with the federation in January against its decision.

The appeal was dismissed but Mudford appealed again to the Sports Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand.

But in its just-released decision, the tribunal found it did not have any jurisdiction on the matter, as Mudford had signed a contract with the New Zealand Olympic Committee and should have appealed to it, not NZSF.

"The tribunal has considerable sympathy for Mr Mudford," it said.

"Mr Mudford has been denied a right of appeal which the NZOC gave him because of administrative errors, both by NZOC and NZSF."

Under Olympic committee rules, an appeal with it had to be lodged within 48 hours - and it was now too late to hear an appeal.

Mudford was not impressed yesterday at missing out.

"Sport should be about fair play, not legal technicalities.

"I have trained for years and invested a considerable amount of time and money to get selected to represent New Zealand at the Games.

"To have that reduced to nothing by an administrative blunder outside of my control is gutting," he said.

"The tribunal have said that the NZOC were in breach of contract, yet it is me that is penalised by not being allowed to pursue my appeal and my dream of going to the Games.

"Nobody in their right mind can say that is fair."

But the shooting federation's acting chief executive Tony Waymouth said the selection of Sinclair over Mudford had been correct and made within the appropriate regulations.

After three trials in Brisbane, Balfour in Southland, and Hamilton, the two shooters were tied.

"There was a shoot-off, a single barrel shot and Alan Sinclair won the shoot-off."

Waymouth said the federation's selectors had also decided Sinclair was a more consistent shooter, and a better selection for the trap pair.

He said the federation was wrong to have held the appeal but had acted in good faith.

- NZPA