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Diamond sparkles to claim zone championship |
| Atlanta Olympic gold medallist Michael Diamond produced incredible form to win the Northern NSW Zone Championships clay shoot trap title at the Newcastle-Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club yesterday.
Diamond and several other members of Australia's clay target shooting team converged at Awaba over the weekend to use the titles to warm up for an upcoming World Cup event in Cairo. Officials were amazed at Diamond's proficiency throughout the weekend as he handled winds gusting to 60kmh without any problems. 'The targets were going all over the place, it was very windy,' Newcastle-Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club secretary Chris Lindsay said last night. Diamond scored 140 from a possible 150 to win the trap division, with 19-year-old Tamworth shooter George Burton taking out the Olympic skeet division. Armidale's Geoff Lancaster won the double trap event with a score of 135 from a possible 150. Diamond told The Newcastle Herald that he hadn't done much preparation for the meet in Cairo and would 'just take it as it comes'. 'Mate, I'm not taking this too seriously, I'll just see how it goes,' Diamond said. 'That's the aproach I've always taken. It seems to have worked so far.' While Diamond didn't win the double trap event, which he is currently learning, the laid-back gold medallist from Golbourn was just happy to be in Newcastle. 'The last time I came to Newcastle was just before the world titles in Munich in 1993 and after shooting out here (at Awaba), I went to Germany and shot a personal best,' he said. 'Maybe Newcastle's my lucky charm.' |