To put the record straight :- Over the DTL weekend at Bywell June 13/15 Andy shot to secure his team place.
From Southern Counties 569 ex 600 Bywell 585/600
Total 1154 ex 1200.
The last senior team place score was 1153!
Andy's score from the 4 selection shoots put him an impressive margine of 16 points above his nearest rival!
Due to the law in Ireland whereby no person under the age of 16 is allowed to shoot he was excluded from the England DTL Team due to being under the age of 16. Andrew was aware that he would not be able to shoot the Home International in Ireland under the age rule but not that he would be ruled out of the European Championships to be held in France in August 2003.
The CPSA state that "the only juniors aged 16 and over on the actual date of the international, will be selected to shoot the Home International". The top 3 juniors selected to shoot from the Home International will be invited to represent their country at the European DTL Championships in France.
It is therefore understandable that Andy was so disappointed that the CPSA did not even acknowledge his achievement at the prize giving or explain the situation to the audience. It would seem his only wrong doing was to be under age and his shooting ability did not come into it !
