One goal transformed competitive shooter Ash Hawker from reserve team member to men’s world champion.
Core items:
- Ash Hawker won the FITASC World Trench Shooting Championship earlier this month
- He is originally from Kaniva in west Victoria and now lives in Horsham
- The style of competitive shooting involves firing targets from five “pits”.
The clay shooter, originally from Kaniva in western Victoria, walked off the range with an impressive final score of 197/200 during the final round of the FITASC World Universal Trench Championships in Umbriaverde, Italy.
Spain’s World Sitting Champion, Mario Fuentes, took his turn on the last lap and scored 196, with one goal to go.
If he fired straight, the pair would be tied at 197 each, leading to a crucial tie-off.
Fuentes aimed – and missed.
“There’s nothing like wearing green and gold and making a dream come true,” Hawker said.
Unable to follow the competition in person, Hawker watched it live via an app and said it took a few moments before he realized he’d won.
“I closed the app and thought ‘well it’s probably time to get ready for a shoot and focus a little bit’ and within about 30 seconds I got a couple of calls saying I was world champion and he actually missed his last target,” Hawker said.
“I could have gone down and watched him … but I didn’t really want to go down and sit there and watch in case I had to prepare for a shoot.
“I thought, ‘I’m better off resting and keeping cool and drinking if it matters.’
“There were a lot of Aussies over there … it sounded like a rush about a minute after I found out when these guys had come into my room.”
Ash Hawker hopes his success will help raise the profile of sport shooting.(Included in delivery: Ash Hawker )
FITASC – Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse – is an international organization representing sport shooting.
From first reserve to world champion
What made Hawker’s win even more incredible was that he wasn’t originally included in the Australian team.
“I was first reserve. I probably didn’t have the best national teams [competition] when I went to Melbourne to shoot it,” he said.
“I underperformed a bit, but I came off a big down-the-line Nationals,” he said.
“Then one of my buddies had a big vacation planned. He wanted to be gone by the time of the World Cup in Italy so he withdrew. I have taken his place.”
Proper gun fit is critical to accurate shooting, says Ash Hawker.(Included in delivery: Ash Hawker)
Universal Trench, also known as Five Trap, is an international shooting discipline in which targets are fired from five traps in a trench in front of the stands.
The targets are fired at different angles and speeds, which Hawker said made the sport more challenging.
“You can’t rely on a rhythm or timing when shooting, so it’s great fun, but it can be a bit difficult on some days,” he said.
Hawker, who grew up in Kaniva and now lives in Horsham, was three hours away in Melbourne where Hawker was taking his next trench shooting course.
Although there were regional shoots, it was a long journey to train and compete.
He said it was the fun of the sport and the camaraderie that drew him into the universal moat.
“You meet some absolute ripper people through the sport,” Hawker said.
“There are people who have been to the Olympics but they’re so humble and at the end of the day they’re just another normal person.”
Two Australians also clinched the Junior World Championship and second title.(Included in delivery: Ash Hawker )
Even Fuentes was brave in defeat.
“He walked right up to me and congratulated me,” Hawkes said.
“The fact that he narrowly missed his last target was pretty big of him.”
holding on to their guns
Several Australian juniors also took medals at the FITASC Championships, with Gabe Sensi winning the junior world title and Acacio Mota finishing second.
Hawker said this success is good for the sport.
“I think for a small shooting country I would say we did pretty well compared to some European countries,” he said.
“We’ve had some good records and good shooters in Australia for a long time, but probably not the depth that some of these European countries have.”
And he said the news was particularly well received in Kaniva.
“I’ve had a lot of messages from friends back home over the past few days,” Hawker said.
“I think everyone paid pretty close attention when they knew what position I was in on the last day.”
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