The SA State Precision Shooting Championships were held at Novar Gardens Petanque Club on Saturday 4^th February 2023, when the previous day had been the coldest February day in Adelaide for over 20 years and the Saturday was only slightly warmer.

Precision Shooting is a difficult discipline to master as it requires not only great boule control but also nerves of steel as the pressure to perform is enormous. It is equally difficult to judge as there are so many points that need to be watched; feet, time, landing spot and finishing position which is why four umpires are required in a formal competition.

Seventeen hopefuls gathered, representing players in the Female and Male 60+ Divisions also some in the Open Ladies and Men’s Divisions. The event was overseen by four officiating umpires and a scorer. It was good to see a number of interested spectators for the event.

The set up for the SA State Precision Shooting Championship, with Umpire Raymond Beaumont.

RESULTS:

• Over 60 Women: M. Peik.
• Over 60 Men: 1^st R. Peik, 2^nd D. Seret
• Open Women: 1^st H. Jang, 2^nd S. Dally, 3^rd W. Bensen, 4^th G. Whiteaker, 5^th H. Nguyen.
• Open Men: 1^st L. Chazal, 2^nd V. Nguyen, 2^nd C. Puccini, 4^th C. Stewart, 5^th K. Maski, 6^th V. Bulone, 7^th N. Armstrong, 8^th J-L. Gonnet, 9^th  K. May.

L Chazal will be named the 2022-2023 Open Men’s South Australian Precision Shooting Champion.

When I was preparing this report, I Googled the collective noun for a group of Umpires The number one suggestion was a “Myopia” of umpires. I decided that perhaps our umpire cohort may get annoyed at this and chose a “Pool” of Umpires, they are shown below.

L to R: Raymond  Beaumont, Brett Williams, Peter Beaumont, Dirk Seret, Terry Hall, Michael Read and umpire and Scorer Adrian Clements.

Stan Wilson, President SAPL