General News
24 April, 2019
Teen fires at national competition
INTERNATIONAL shooting competitions await Terang local Matt Molan in 2020.
INTERNATIONAL shooting competitions await Terang local Matt Molan in 2020.
The 16 year-old booked his place for trips abroad after winning five events at the Australian Down the Line Championships in Roma, Queensland recently.
Molan won the sub junior double rise, champion of champions, double barrel, points score and high gun sections and was also a member of the Noorat Gun Club’s victorious A.G Brown team.
The Terang College student was proud of his efforts at the championships.
“I went up there hoping to do alright because it’s my last year in sub junior,” he said.
“But the thing I was most proud about was making the under 21 Mackintosh team and the junior world team.
“I was pretty proud to get the green and gold jacket to go to England and I was pretty proud to make the Glenn Cup team.”
Molan shot a near perfect score to earn selection on the two teams.
“My score to get into the junior world team and Glenn Cup team was 549 out of 550,” he said.
“That’s out of all the events put together so to just be one down is bloody good I guess.”
Molan credited Noorat Gun Club secretary Gary Hayden for both his recent success and his rise in the sport.
“He’s helped me from day one to where I am now,” he said.
“He’s taught me how to shoot, and he’s pretty happy with how I went and proud to see how far I’ve come.”
Molan will now travel as part of the open Glenn Cup and junior world teams to New Zealand and England in March and July next year.
It’s an achievement he admits he did not expect, but one that has humbled him.
“To get the Aussie jacket is better than I thought I was going to get really,” he said.
“I went up there hoping to win one let alone get two.
“To wear the green and gold is pretty cool I guess.”
Molan said heading to England will be a new experience for him but he has previously competed in New Zealand.
“I shot the New Zealand nationals this year and I shot the Worlds for the first time last year) and I’ll go over there to defend my title which is the junior world championship,” he said.
Molan’s next events will be a selection of mainly club events before he tackles both the Victorian and New South Wales state titles later this year.