Rachel Parish won Great Britain's only medal in the Shooting events at the World University Games in Bangkok, with Silver in the Women's Double Trap. Rachel, who won Gold and Silver in this event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, recorded a qualification round score of 96, four targets off the lead. With this event having been removed from the Olympic programme there was no final held and, denied the opportunity to overhaul this deficit, the newly qualified Doctor had to settle for second place.

Rachel Parish

Rachel had earlier taken 13th place in the Women’s Trap event, her excellent final round of 24 too late to pull her up into the top six who contested the final, while Mark Hampton was disappointed with 112 for 10th place in the Men’s Trap.

Whilst the entries in the Shotgun events were modest, entries in the Rifle and Pistol events were much higher - well over 50 in each event that British athletes contested, and the standard at the top end was close to World Cup level in most.  Julia Lydall shot steadily for 379 in the Women's Air Pistol, but had to settle for 24th place, 384 being required to qualify for the final.  Kathryn Pearson was best place in the 25m Sport Pistol, with 552 and 43rd place a reflection on how hard it is to prepare for competitions without being to train on a daily and weekly basis with the correct pistol.

James Paterson was the best placed in the Men's Prone match with 585 and 17th, four points off the final, while Emma Cole-Hamilton was 18th with 580 in the Women's Prone and Jenny Corish was 23rd in the Women's 3x20 with a score 566 which included some excellent standing.  The standard in the Women's Air Rifle was very tough, 395 required to qualify for the final - Jenny again top Briton, with 386.  All three of the smallbore rifle teams came a disappointing 6th, Men's Prone five points off the podium, Women's 3x20 eight points away and Women's Prone ten points away, while the Women's Air Rifle team were a very poor 18th.

Rachel Parish, Silver Medallist in Women's Double Trap

The experience these young athletes gained in attending the first World University Games to include Shooting should stand them all in good stead for the future.  Although the majority of the team had been to Commonwealth Games in the past, this event was on a much bigger scale, with approximately 10,000 athletes from all over the world contesting 24 different sports.