Federal MP Daniel Repacholi has been selected as part of a 61-member shooting team representing Australia in the upcoming Oceania Championships, which will help decide which athletes go on to shoot at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I was very happy to be selected,” Repacholi, who’ll be part of a three-man 10m Air Pistol team, said. “I’ll be shooting with two other great people, Bailey Groves and Matt Sydes, and we’ve got a really strong team.”
As well as winning three gold medals and three bronze medals in pistol shooting at Commonwealth Games competitions between 2006 and 2018, Repacholi represented Australia at the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
He was elected to federal parliament in 2022 as the Labor Member for Hunter in NSW but has not let it interrupt his sporting career.
Earlier this month he won the NSW Men’s 10m Air Pistol State Championship, and said that after two decades of competing at world-class level, shooting was still a “huge part of my life”.
“It started at the 2004 Athens Olympics and it’s still continuing.”
The Oceania Championships (OCH) are the largest shooting competition in this region of the world and Shooting Australia says this team is the largest of its kind, put forward in an effort earn as many Olympic places as possible.
“We have selected the best shooting talent in Australia to compete for Olympic quotas in every discipline and event,” Shooting Australia’s high performance manager, Kathryn Periac, said.
“The outcomes from this Oceania Championships will play a significant role in shaping the size and composition of the Australian shooting team in Paris.”
Many of the team members are not eligible to compete in Paris but are using these Oceania Championships as a significant stage in their development with an eye to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
The 61 shooters will compete in 16 events between them across pistol, rifle and shotgun disciplines, from 10m air pistol to trap.
Shooting Australia is hosting this year’s OCH in Brisbane from 30 October until 6 November, with events held at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre and Brisbane Gun Club.
The full list of team members is available on the Shooting Australia website.
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