Sharp-shooter Whapples secures world bronze

Michael Whapples had to overcome a bout of nerves to secure a brilliant bronze medal on a fruitful day for GB at the World Para Shooting Championships in Sydney.

Whapples was superbly consistent as he finished third in the visually-impaired mixed 10m air rifle standing event and although James Bevis, Tim Jeffery and Ryan Cockbill missed out on individual medals in the mixed 50m rifle prone SH2 – their performances were good enough to bring home team gold for GB.

And Issy Bailey then produced a solid performance in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 to earn a quota spot for ParalympicsGB at next summer’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

For his part, Whapples was pleased just to emerge from the final with a medal as his final total of 183.2 points was good enough for bonze, behind Barbara Moskal of Poland and Austria’s Patrick Moor.

“Wow, what a final,” wrote Whapples on Twitter after the event. “Went in 8th place, had really bad nerves at the start but calmed down as it went on.

“Finished in third place. Really. Happy but relieved it is over.”

In the mixed 50m rifle prone SH2, Bevis qualified in fifth before finishing seventh in the final, while Jeffery finished 12th and Cockbill 13th – which earned them team gold.

And Bailey ensured ParalympicGB will have a representative in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 come Tokyo 2020 by finishing ninth in qualifying, which helped make up for the disappointment of missing out on the final by a single spot.

Photo credit: Narelle Spangher; International Paralympic Committee