Marksman: Mark Oliver aims and fires at the Thailand IPSC Handgun National Championship earlier this month. Photo: Supplied
Local marksman Mark Oliver put himself to the test against some of the top shooters in the world at the Asian Handgun Championships in Thailand.
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Oliver, who is based at the Echuca Pistol Club, competed at the Thailand International Practical Shooting Competition Handgun National Championship this month.
It was a marathon event that featured 30 stages across three days, with Oliver finishing as the top senior in the classic class.
Going up against a mix of world, Asian and European champions, Oliver finished 10th in his class overall out of more than 70 competitors, an achievement of which he said he was proud.
“I’m pretty happy with that performance,” Oliver said.
“You are competing at the pinnacle. You are going up against the best that there is, it is very enjoyable.
“Six of the people that were above me were Asian champions, European champions or ex-world champions, and that is their full-time job.
“I made three bad shots out of 650 shots, and those three shots would have got me up to eighth.”
Great performance: Mark Oliver on the podium at the Thailand IPSC Handgun National Championship. Oliver finished as the top senior in the classic class. Photo: Supplied
Practical shooting requires participants to move through a course, running to shoot various targets while negotiating obstructions.
A competitor’s final score is calculated based on both their speed and accuracy.
There were more than 600 participants at the tournament competing across six different divisions, with a dozen countries represented.
Oliver is set to represent Australia at the IPSC world championships in November, which will be held at the same facility in Thailand, and he said the Asian championships were a great tune-up.
“You need to be able to go somewhere where you are competing against those who are better than you. If you want to get better, you have to compete against the best,” he said.
"This was the main lead-up match on the world championships range in Thailand, so that was a big opportunity for us to go and get used to those facilities and have a competition under our belt there."
Top shot: Mark Oliver in action at the Thailand IPSC Handgun National Championship. Photo: Supplied
With the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the event from its original date, Oliver said he was looking forward to competing on the global stage once again.
“The world championships are only held once every three years and because of COVID it got pushed back, so there hasn’t been one for five years,” he said.
“This might be my last one. Who knows if I will continue at that level, so this is a pretty big deal.
“The world championships have 1600 spots and you have to qualify for the event, you have to be a country representative.”
Oliver will compete in a number of state-level competitions in the lead-up to the two-week world championships, which start in late November.
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