And so the Games come to an end, and after a wonderful Closing Ceremony, the team prepares to head for home. We look forward to the next edition of the Games in India in 2010!

The shooting events at the 18th Commonwealth Games came to a conclusion yesterday.  Bob Carroll was the second highest British shooter in the Men's Standard Pistol, and Ian Marsden the highest British shooter in the Men's Skeet, but both were unable to make an impression on the medals.

The rifle events came to an end at the Melbourne International Shooting Club today, with Graham Rudd and Martin Sinclair taking 11th and 13th places respectively.

50m 3P Rifle Men (20) 1 G Narang IND 1163 98.4 1261.4 2 A Bindra IND 1151 97.6 1248.6 3 B Burge AUS 1143 88.2 1238.2 11 G Rudd SCO 1132     13 M Sinclair SCO 1126	25m Centre-Fire Pistol Men (31) 1 S On SIN 578 2 G Yelavich NZL 578 3 S Jung IND 578 14 R Carroll SCO 562
Skeet Women (9) 1 A Eleftheriou CYP 69 22 + 2 89 + 2 2 L Mark AUS 68 21 + 1 89 + 1 3 P Le Grelle ENG 69 20 89 + 0

Lindsay Peden produced one of the best performances on the range on the final day of the fullbore rifle competition in Bendigo.  Scores of 75 (with 10 V-bulls) at 900 yards and 74 (with 9 Vs) pulled the Scottish shooter up to eighth place in the individual championship.  At the MISC range in Port Melbourne, Susan Jackson missed the cut for the final of the Women's 3P match by one point.

50m 3P Rifle Women (23) 1 A Jung IND 574 96.7 670.7 2 E Van Reenen RSA 576 94.0 670.0 3 M Nur Suryani Binti MAS 576 92.0 668.0 10 S Jackson SCO 566     15 E Cole-Hamilton SCO 562	10m Air Pistol Women (22) 1 L Yauhleuskaya AUS 384 100.8 484.8 2 D Aspandiyarova AUS 386 98.3 484.3 3 K Eagles CAN 382 95.6 477.6
Double Trap Men (23) 1 R Rathore IND 137 44 181 2 B Swanton RSA 134 46 180 3 R Mark AUS 134 44 178 19 S Cumming SCO 114	25m Rapid-Fire Pistol Men (16) 1 V Kumar IND 581 197.2 778.2 2 P Tamang IND 580 195.0 775.0 3 A Hasli Izwan Bin MAS 573 197.4 770.4
Double Trap Women (8) 1 C Kerwood ENG 106 2 R Parish ENG 101 3 C Meyer CAN 97	Fullbore Rifle (38) 1 B Scott AUS 403.60 2 P Patel ENG 402.57 3 J Corbett AUS 401.57 8 L Peden SCO 399.50 16 I Shaw SCO 396.53

Sheena Sharp won her second Gold Medal of these Commonwealth Games, with victory in the Women's Prone.  Sheena shot quickly in difficult conditions and had to wait for over half an hour while the competition fell slowly by the wayside.  This is Scotland's first Individual Gold since Shirley McIntosh won the same event in Victoria 12 years ago, and this is the first Games for 24 years that Scotland have won two shooting gold medals.  Susan Jackson was fourth in the Women's Prone, for the second Games running, and was one of a number of close calls today.  Martin Sinclair secured fourth place in the Men's Prone after a shoot off with Warren Potent of Australia, a frustratingly close 0.6 points off the bronze.  Earlier in the day Neil Stirton had narrowly missed qualifying for the final, being counted out into ninth place.  At Lilydale, Ossie McLean qualified for the final of the Men's Trap, finishing in equal fourth place.

50m Prone Rifle Men (37) 1 D Phelps WAL 596 102.3 698.3 2 M Babb ENG 593 103.2 696.2 3 S Rajput IND 594 101.7 695.7 4 M Sinclair SCO 592 103.1 695.1 9 N Stirton SCO 591	50m Prone Rifle Women (27) 1 S Sharp SCO 586 2 J Etherington NZL 585 3 J Brekke WAL 584 4 S Jackson SCO 580
Trap Men (41) 1 G Ede NZL 120 18 + 2 138 + 2 2 D Beattie NIR 117 21 + 1 + 4 138 + 1 + 4 3 M Sandhu IND 122 16 + 1 + 3 138 + 1 + 3 4 O McLean SCO 116 19 135 24 J Reid SCO 107	10m Air Pistol Men (35) 1 S Jung IND 584 101.4 685.4 2 V Singh IND 578 99.6 677.6 3 F Sack NAM 578 99.2 677.2 10 D Lewis SCO 569     24 A Ritchie SCO 555

David Lewis was the highest placed Scot today - the first full day of individual matches.  A new personal best score of 541 secured eighth place for the Shetland shooter, and he remained in that place following the final ten shots.  Alan Ritchie also recorded a new personal best, of 539, for ninth place.  In the Men's Air Rifle Graham Rudd and Robin Law were very close to making the final, steady performances of 585 and 584 earning them 9th and 10th place respectively.

Martin Sinclair and Neil Stirton successfully negotiated the elimination round in the Men's Prone, and will compete in the main event at 9am tomorrow morning.  After the first two stages of the fullbore, Lindsay Peden is in 16th place on 250.31, with Ian Shaw on 248.32 in 22nd place.  The fullbore completes with the longer ranges on the 23rd.  After the first two rounds in the Men's Trap, Ossie McLean is in equal 7th place with 46 while Jonathon Reid is in 26th place with 42.  The Trap completes tomorrow.

50m Pistol Men (21) 1 S Jung IND 554 96.2 650.2 2 M Gault ENG 552 93.9 645.9 3 R Daniel TRI 544 94.9 638.9 8 D Lewis SCO 541 79.6 620.6 9 A Ritchie SCO 539	10m Air Rifle Men (27) 1 G Narang IND 597 101.9 698.9 2 J Zhang SIN 595 101.9 696.9 3 A Bindra IND 594 101.5 695.5 9 G Rudd SCO 585     10 R Law SCO 584
25m Pistol Women (21) 1 L Yauhleuskaya AUS 582 199.5 781.5 2 K Eagles CAN 573 201.0 774.0 3 P McKenzie AUS 572 200.3 772.3	Trap Wpmen (27) 1 D Swanton RSA 72 20 92 2 R Madyson MLT 70 16 86 3 S Nattrass CAN 68 15 83 7 S Marshall SCO 64

Graham Rudd and Martin Sinclair were a very unfortunate fourth in the Men's 50m 3P Pairs event today in Melbourne, losing out on the Bronze medal to England by a single point in 2400.

The first of the individual matches was also held today, Heather Rudd and Emma Cole-Hamilton unable to qualify for the final despite both coming close to their personal bests.

50m 3P Rifle Men Pairs (10) 1 IND A Bindra 1144 2287 G Narang 1143 2 AUS B Burge 1140 2269 M Brown 1129 3 ENG C Hector 1136 2265 J Burrage 1129 4 SCO G Rudd 1138 2264 M Sinclair 1126	10m Air Rifle Women (28) 1 T Sawant IND 398 102.6 500.6 2 A Sidhu IND 398 102.2 500.2 3 Y Yong SIN 397 102.9 499.9 12 H Rudd SCO 388     15 E Cole-Hamilton SCO 387
Skeet Men Pairs (11) 1 CYP G Achilleos 97 190 A Nikolaides 93 2 ENG R Brickell 95 186 C Bramley 91 3 AUS G Barton 95 185 C Barton 90 6 SCO I Marsden 90 179 M Thomson 89	Skeet Women Pairs (4) 1 AUS L Mark 45 90 N Rahman 45 2 CYP A Eleftheriou 46 88 L Theophanous 42
25m Centre-Fire Men Pairs (11) 1 IND S Jung 577 1150 J Rana 573 2 ENG P Flippant 579 1138 S Lucas 559 3 RSA D Van Tonder 572 1135 A McDonald 563

An equal personal best from Emma Cole-Hamilton led the Scottish pair to a new Scottish Record in the Women's 50m 3 Positions event.  A combined score of 1126 was off the pace in terms of medals, but raised the record by 14 points.

The Scottish pair of Emma Cole-Hamilton and Heather Rudd added 13 points to their own Scottish record in the Women's 10m Air Rifle pairs on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games were formally opened last night in a wonderful Opening Ceremony inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Most of the shooters and their support team attended.

Ian Marsden, who will compete in the Skeet event, has been selected by the athletes of the Commonwealth Games team to carry the Saltire for the Scotland at the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night.  Ian has represented Scotland at five previous Commonwealth Games, winning a Gold medal in Auckland in 1990 and a Bronze medal in Victoria in 1994.

Scotland picked up two medals in the pre-Games badge matches in the Men's and Women's Prone events.  In Men's Prone the forty firing point range cannot accommodate the entire field, so two details were run.  Conditions deteriorated considerably during the day, with only two shooters from the second relay in the top eight.  It should be noted that in all of the badge matches a number of shooters from other countries either did not start the match or did not complete the full course of fire.

The pre-Games "Badge" matches started today in Melbourne, and the highlight was a personal best for Alan Ritchie in the Men's 50m Pistol, raising his best by seven points with 537.  The scores available to date are:

After a few days at the Team Scotland preparation camp in Bendigo, the bulk of the shooting team have said their farewells to the Fullbore shooters and coach - who will remain in Bendigo for their competition - and moved into the village in Melbourne. Some early days of training have now taken place, and the pre-Games Badge Matches are about to commence.

The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland has announced the Scottish team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia in March of 2006.  Following two successful appeals by STSF, the shooters within the team are:

The following support staff will accompany the team:

The team will depart from Glasgow Airport on Tuesday 28th February, and will return on Wednesday 28th March.  Pre-Games badge matches will be held in Melbourne from the 11th to 14th March, with the Opening Ceremony on the 15th of March and the matches proper taking place from the 17th to the 25th of March.

Scotland won three medals, and placed twice in the Badge Matches at the Commonwealth Championships in Melbourne.  Click here for more details.

STSF, in conjunction with CGCS, have announced a change in the Team Manager for the shooting squad at the 2005 Commonwealth Championships and 2006 Commonwealth Games.  Donald McIntosh stepped down in order to fill the vacancy of smallbore/air rifle coach, and has been replaced by Joan Watt.

The Scottish team had a very successful weekend at the CSF(ED) Championships on the Isle of Man, winning 11 Gold Medals on their way to topping the medal table.  Click here for more details.

The Scottish Target Shooting Federation, in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, has appointed Donald McIntosh as Shooting Team Manager for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne in March 2006.  Donald will also act as Team Manager for the 2005 Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships - to be held in Melbourne during March 2005 - and the 2004 Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Championships, which will be held on the Isle of Man in September of this year.