Lesley Stewart from Scotland and Scottish Target Shooting’s inclusive Performance Programme has secured bronze and a Tokyo Paralympic quota place for ParalympicsGB at the World Shooting Para Sport Lima World Cup 2021.
It was a fantastic performance in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 with Lesley securing a final score of 427.0 after a strong final round pulling away from her rival from South Korea, Yoojeong Lee, who finished in 4th with a score of 414.5.
Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik won the gold medal with a score of 448.1 and Thailand’s Wannipa Leungvilai who secured silver with 443.0.
Lesley’s quota makes it seven places in total for the GB Paralympic team with Issy Bailey, Jimmy Bevis, Ryan Cockbill, Tim Jeffrey, Lorraine Lambert and Matt Skelton all having been confirmed onto the team in January this year.
Huge congratulations to Lesley who only returned to the sport a few years ago after taking a break from the sport. Big congratulations as well to Lesley’s coaching team who have worked so hard to help her prepare for the event and will look to support her over the coming months if she is selected for Tokyo on the back of this achievement. It is a compliment to the STS Performance Programme’s inclusive approach to running the programme, adopted following the transfer of the programme to STS following the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. STS has also been working with Scottish Disability Sport to provide the best possible support to athletes with a disability on the programme, and British Shooting through her involvement in their Academy programme.
Lesley shoots again today (14 June 2021) in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 competition in Lima, with the pressure off having secured a quota place for the team (and hopefully a spot on the plan for herself)!
Video: Watch Lesley’s final on youtube here
Article reproduced with permission from Scottish Target Shooting (STS)