Two Dumfriesshire sharp-shooters are preparing to represent Great Britain at ISSF World Cup events.
Jess Liddon, 29, from Lockerbie, has her sights set on the next two rounds of the championship – in Peru next month and Azerbaijan in May.
And her selection follows her first ISSF World Cup appearance at Cairo in Egypt last month.
Delighted Tom Diggle, 25, from Lochmaben, is looking forward to his first appearance for Team GB when he will join Jess on the trip to Baku in Azerbaijan.
The self-employed landscape architect, who will be competing in two rifle shooting events, told the Standard: “I’m over the moon, it’s a dream come true.
“A lot of hard work and blood, sweat and tears have gone into this selection.”
Tom has once previously represented Great Britain as a “development member” of the team which competed at Novisadi in Serbia six years ago.
The Covid pandemic in recent years has limited opportunities more recently but he is now aiming for a place at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Australia.
And his long term goal is to book a place at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
He said: “There’s a good chance I will get to Victoria and, on the back of that LA, that’s the game plan.”
Tom, who took up shooting in school when a recurring shoulder injury forced him to quit playing rugby, has previously represented and won medals for Scotland at events, most recently two silvers at Intershoot in the Netherlands this year.
Last month he tied a Scottish record for the 10 metre air rifle with a score of 622.3 at a Grand Prix series event in Inverness.
He said: “I have put a lot of hard work in since September and it’s starting to pay dividends.”
Tom, who was in the national U21 team at the age of 14, has risen through the sports gradings and is now a top level, tier one shooter.
In Baku he will be competing in the 3Ps – kneeling, prone and standing – shooting a .22 calibre rifle and also the 10 metre air gun event.
Ahead of Azerbaijan he will be competing at an event in Germany.
Meanwhile, pistol shooter Jess is looking forward to a trip to Lima in Peru for a round of the World Cup in April.
She finished 26th overall in the Cairo event last month and was pleased with her performance.
Jess said: “I was really happy with it. It was my first major event of the year so it was me starting the season and it was a good benchmark.”
She has been shooting for well over 10 years and first represented Great Britain in 2013 at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.
Jess, who decided to take a break from the sport at the end of 2019, returned to action two years later and is now looking forward to a busy calendar of events.
After the World Cup competitions, she hopes to secure a place at the European Games in Poland at the end of June.
“It’s for the top 27 in Europe and I am currently sitting in that at the moment,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to Lima, it will be an opportunity to improve rankings ahead of the European Games.
“Then going into Baku that competition will enable me to experience what the venue is like because the World Championships are being held there in August and I hope to be at that.”
Jess, an electrical engineer with BAE systems, is hoping to claim a place in the GB team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She said: “I am hoping to get there but it’s a very tough qualification system. It will be a tall ask but it’s where the sights are set.”
Tom expressed his gratitude to his sponsors and the Welcome to Langholm Awards for their support.
