Clay­ton Clarke

Pan Amer­i­can and Com­mon­wealth Games mul­ti­ple medal­list Roger Daniel will lead a six-mem­ber del­e­ga­tion at the 2014 Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean Games qual­i­fiers in Guatemala set to be­gin on Sun­day.

The one-week event will be held at the Vic­tor Manel Castel­lanos Range. The qual­i­fiers are be­ing held for the first time. Daniel, along with fel­low Com­mon­wealth Games medal­list Rhod­ney Allen and Caribbean Cham­pi­onships bronze medal­list Mar­sha Bullen-Jones are com­pet­ing in the pis­tol events, while Mar­lon Moses and Taran De­osaran are in the ri­fle com­pe­ti­tion. The team will be man­aged by Robert Couri.

The team is an ex­pe­ri­enced one as Daniel and De­osaran are for­mer CAC Gold medal­lists. Daniel was vic­to­ri­ous at the 2002 Games in El Sal­vador as well as in 2010 in Mayaguez, Puer­to Ri­co. De­osaran was dou­ble cham­pi­on in El Sal­vador. The team will leave for Guatemala from Fri­day for the com­pe­ti­tion, which gets un­der­way on Sun­day 14th and runs un­til April 21.

Daniel warmed up for the qual­i­fiers dom­i­nat­ing the Caribbean ACOM Chal­lenge in Mar­tinique on the East­er week­end, win­ning four gold medals. The Trinidad and To­ba­go De­fence Force sargeant copped the Stan­dard pis­tol (559), Free Pis­tol (192), 10m Pis­tol (198.3) and Cen­tral Pis­tol (577) events. Bullen-Jones was third in the Ladies 10m Pis­tol (163.6) and fourth in the Sport Fi­nals (497). Daniel says the qual­i­fiers are cru­cial for him. "It will be like ac­tu­al games we will be go­ing in 2014 in Ve­ra Cruz in Mex­i­co. We will be meet­ing all con­tenders. It is im­por­tant to go there well pre­pared and do what is ex­pect­ed, which is to qual­i­fy."

Bullen-Jones said she used the ACOM Chal­lenge to pre­pare her for Guatemala and will be aim­ing to qual­i­fy for Mex­i­co. She said her ul­ti­mate goal is to com­pete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Moses will be hop­ing to qual­i­fy for his first CAC Games. The 29 year old, who has been shoot­ing for two years, has par­tic­i­pat­ed in sev­er­al ISSF World Cups in Aus­tralia, South Ko­rea and Ger­many. He al­so won the Pres­i­dent's medal for ex­cel­lence in 2007 be­fore get­ting in­to com­pet­i­tive shoot­ing.

De­osaran, who has been in the sport for 26 years, will be seek­ing to com­pete in an­oth­er CAC Games and is call­ing for bet­ter am­mu­ni­tions to train and com­pete lo­cal­ly. "Right now we have been us­ing third and fourth grade equip­ment."

RE­SULTS

ACOM Chal­lenge re­sults

Mar­sha Bullen-Jones

3rd Ladies 10m Pis­tol- 163.6 points

4th Ladies Sports Fi­nals- 497

Roger Daniel

1st Stan­dard Pis­tol- 559

1st Free Pis­tol- 192

1st 10m Pis­tol- 198.3

1st Cen­tral Pis­tol- 577