NEW DELHI: New Zealand’s 53-year-old pistol shooter Greg Yelavich, who has 10 medals in the Commonwealth Games competition since 1986, is hungry for more as he prepares for his seventh successive Commonwealth Games appearance in Delhi this October.
Yelavich figures in a 12-members New Zealand shooting team announced for the Games on Thursday. The team also includes 34-year-old Olympian and Commonwealth gold medallist Nadine Stanton (clay target) and the up-and-coming Miles Browne-Cole (clay target), who won the Australian title in January.
Yelavich, who has competed at the Olympics, as well as Commonwealth Games since 1986 said the competitive landscape was changing. “The Games are getting harder and harder and the competition that we face is getting smarter,” Yelavich told tvnz.co.nz. “Other countries have more money but we have to be typically `New Zealand' and step up. Kiwis are known for that.”
Shooting team coach Gavin Paton said he was pleased with the make up of a team which included youth and experience, and some strong pairings. “It is a strong team and I'm very pleased to see it includes young people coming through,” he said. “Overall it's a strong team, especially in the pairs where an experienced athlete will be matched with one of the younger ones.”
The New Zealand shooters compete at the world championships at Munich in July, before returning to New Zealand and Australia to prepare for the Games, to be held from October 3.
New Zealand has been participating in Commonwealth Games shooting since 1978 and the sport has raked in 49 medals to rank fourth on the New Zealand Commonwealth medal table.
The shooting team is the third team to be named to the Commonwealth Games squad which is expected to number 195 athletes and 100 support staff.
New Zealand shooting team:
Clay Target: Men: Myles Browne-Cole and Allan Sinclair; Women: Natalie Rooney and Nadine Stanton.
Small bore (prone): Men - Adrian Black and Ryan Taylor; Women - Sally Johnson and Juliet Etherington
Pistol: Greg Yelavich and Allan Earle.
Full bore: Mike Collings and John Snowden.
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