sport, local-sport, Ben Emms, Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Shooting Australia, Lyndhurst, rifle

BEN Emms has done plenty in a shooting career spanning almost four decades, but come Wednesday night he will march in a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony for the first time. The fullbore rifle shooter from Lyndhurst is part of the Shooting Australia team which will compete at the Gold Coast Games and Emms is determined to enjoy every moment of the experience. The 2015 World Champion already has one highlight – he carried the Queen’s Baton into the Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane late last week. That is the venue where he will aim for glory next week in the Queens Prize pairs and individual events as he makes his Commonwealth Games debut. Emms and the Australia shooting team have spent the past week in Brisbane and are now based on the Gold Coast. They will attend the opening ceremony before heading back to Brisbane. “We came down to the village [on Sunday] and had a look around, it’s fantastic,” Emms, who has been shooting since 1981, said. “It has certainly sunk in now, we’ve been here a week trying to get into the mood of it all. It’s a fantastic atmosphere down here at the village, it’s pretty well full. “There are people here from just about every corner of the globe you can think of and people of every shape and size and colour and creed. “When we go away normally it’s only shooters and it’s only from half a dozen – six, or eight or 10 countries – nothing at all like this. “The whole team is going to the opening ceremony. It’s all part of the experience, so I’d be crazy not to soak it all in. “We are here in the village until after the opening ceremony, then we head back up to our base in Brisbane right through and come back down for the closing ceremony after we finish.” As for the challenge which lies ahead, Emms knows he and his Australian team-mates have the potential to feature in the medals. But he also knows they will face quality opposition and that the weather could also have an impact on their performance. “We’re quietly confident, with any of it, you need it to go your way on the day, but we’re well and truly in the mix,” Emms said. “There’s half a dozen of the top countries here and they’re all bloody good shots, but so are we. Every one has got their chance. “We shoot in Brisbane a lot, it’s more or less the headquarters range for the NRA here. “We train a lot there with the national team and the major national competitions are held there, so we do shoot there a lot. It does help we’ve done that. “We’ve trained there a lot over the last six or eight months and that certainly is an advantage. But the wind we’ve had this week so far has been quite challenging, so it’s all a matter of timing. “You just hope the wind doesn’t change when you put your head down.”

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