Shooting: Pressure blamed for off-target start

A barren day on the range has led to suggestions that the pressure of expectation is affecting shooters.

New Zealand shooters were told to bring home 12 medals by Government funding agency Sparc and while eight days of competition remain, New Zealand's rough start yesterday has some worried.

Trap coach Gavin Paton watched the women's pair come a distant last in a three-team field at the Melbourne Gun Club, Lilydale.

"It's most definitely adding pressure," he said of Sparc's expectations, but refused to elaborate when asked if it was the main reason for New Zealand's slow start.

Nadine Stanton, who shot an acceptable 41 from 50 traps, summed up the prevailing mood when she said: "I'm not doing any media. You guys don't treat me very well."

Stanton's demeanour would not have been helped by a thumb injury she suffered early in her first round of 25 targets.

The 30-year-old, who won gold and silver in Manchester 2002, took a small chunk out of her thumb on the lenses of her glasses.

When it happened again she abandoned the eyewear.

"It certainly didn't help her," Paton said.

Despite the injury, Stanton, 30, started with 20 from 25, even with Australia's Suzanne Balogh and Canada's Cynthia Meyer.

But Borrell had a poor start to her first round, missing four of her first five traps.

She recovered to finish with 20, but had a disastrous 16 in her second round, a score Paton put down to "the pressure of the match".

New Zealand's total of 77 left it 10 points behind Australia's pair of Deserie Baynes and Suzanne Balogh and seven behind Canada.

There was no silver or bronze medal awarded.

David Grummitt and Dayle Slinn finished sixth in the 10m air rifle pairs at the Melbourne International shooting club.

Alan Earle and Greg Yelavich were also sixth in the 50m pistol pairs and Andrea Bald and Jocelyn Lees were fifth in the 25m pistol pairs.

In the men's trap pairs, Graeme Ede and Allan Sinclair improved to finish ninth in a 23-strong field after making a slow start.

Their total of 173 couldn't match the 189 shot by Australian winners Michael Diamond and Adam Vella, who defended their title.