Britain’s disability shooters have returned from their latest international competition with nine medals – three golds, four silvers and two bronze medals. The team travelled to France for the latest IPC World Cup, following their success at the German world cup the week prior.

It was Paralympic champion Matt Skelhon, who got the team off to a winning start, taking top spot in the R3 10m air rifle prone SH1 mixed. He shot 600, which is equivalent to the world record, with 59 inner 10s before following it up with 105.5 in the finals to take gold with a total score of 705.5. Radoslav Maenovsky of Slovakia took the silver (704.8 total score) and Elizabeth Kosmala of Australia shot 704.6 to win bronze.

GB team-mates Nathan Milgate, Deanna Coates and Mandy Pankhurst also competed and finished 16th, 33rd and 48th respectively.

GB also took the team gold in the same event, with the British trio of Skelhon, Coates and Milgate shooting a total combined score of 1792 to finish in the top podium spot. They beat France (1791) into second and Slovakia (1790) into third.

It was Georgina Callingham who claimed Britain’s third gold medal of the competition in the R5 10m air rifle prone SH2 mixed, shooting a perfect 600, with 54 inner 10s to score a new international PB and register an equal world record. She shot 106.9 in the finals to win gold with the total score of 706.9.  Jason Maroney of Australia shot 600 followed by 106 in the final to win silver and Vasyl Kovalchuk of the Ukraine shot 600 and 105.7 in the finals to take bronze.

British Paralympian James Bevis shot again a  perfect score 600 with 59 inner 10s, and 105.2 in the finals to finish 5th with a total score 705.2, while GB team-mates Adam Fontain shot 598 to finish 13th and Ryan Cockbill shot 597 to place 16th. Rob Mcleary scored 597 - an international PB - to place 23rd. 

The British team of Callingham, Bevis and Fontain won silver in the team contest of the same event with a total combined score of 1798, with 168 inner 10s. They were just beaten into second by Australia, who scored 1798, with 170 inner 10s to win the gold. France took bronze.  Paralympian Deanna Coates added to her team gold, with individual silver and team bronze in the R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 women. She shot a total score of 495.7 to finish second behind Paralympic champion Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia. Bronze went to Schmermund Manuale of Germany.

GB’s Karen Butler shot 379 to place 12th and Mandy Pankhurst scored 377 to finish 15th .

All three combined for the GB team event and won the bronze with their total score of 1150. China won the gold with1155 while Germany won the silver with 1153. 

There were two silver medals for Britain in the R6 50m rifle 60 shot prone SH1 mixed. Nathan Milgate shot an international PB of 594 and 101.3 in the finals to win individual silver with his total score of 695.3. Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia shot a total score of 696.8 to win the gold, while Ove Foss of Norway shot 690.1 for the silver.

 Britain’s Karen Butler shot 586 in the qualification round and 99.8 in the finals to finish 6th, Stephen Robertson finished 7th with a score of 585 and 98.7 and Trevor Budgen finished 29th with 575. 

The British team of Milgate, Butler and Robertson then went on to win silver with a score of 1765. Gold went to Slovakia and Poland took bronze.

Britain’s final medal went to the GB team of Ryan Cockbill, Adam Fontain and James Bevis in the R4 10m air rifle SH2 mixed with their score of 1776. France won gold and Australia took silver.

In the individual competition Cockbill finished 10th, Fontain finished 21st and Bevis finished 22nd. Georgina Callingham and Robert Mcleary also competed and finished 20th and 28th respectively.

Among the other top results was a 4th place for Karen Butler in the R8 50m sport rifle 3 x 20 SH1 women and a 7th place for Jean Guild in the P 2 – 10m air pistol SH1 women. Skelhon and Milgate finished 7th and 8th respectively in the R1 10m air rifle standing SH1 men.

Head Coach Pasan Kularatne said: “The standard of this competition was very high and this was the best performance of a GB squad since Beijing 2008 so I am extremely pleased with the results and appreciate the effort made by all the athletes, coaches and staff in the disability shooting performance programme and DTSGB in securing this success for the GB Team.”  

The IPC Shooting World Cup took place Eurostand in Volmerange, France from May 24 to 29. There were participants from 30 countries.

The full GB squad was made up of Deanna Coates (Yateley, Hants), Karen Butler (Bristol), Mandy Pankhurst (Ash, Surrey), Matthew Skelhon (Stilton, Peterborough), Nathan Milgate (Herne Bay, Kent), James Bevis (Hereford), Adam Fontain (Pitsea, Basildon), Georgina Callingham (High Wycombe, Bucks), Ryan Cockbill (Birmingham,West Midlands), Rob Mcleary (Scunthorpe), Stephen Robertson (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire), Trevor Budgen (East Grinstead), Adrian Bunclark (Newton Abbott, Devon), Chris Summerscales (Rotherham, Yorks), Andy Gardiner (Oxfordshire), Jean Guild (Southport, Merseyside).

They were  supported by Head Coach Pasan Kularatne, Rifle Coaches- Robin Taylor and Louise Minett, Pistol Coach Vladimir Filimonov, Physiotherapist Natalie Lejeune and support staff; Kapila De Alwis, Steven Connolly and Andrew Glen Cockbill.

Full list of results