SHOOTING: LESS than six months after taking up the sport, Sharon Ebbrell has shot her way to a clay pigeon title.

The 31-year-old from Blacon won the Welsh ladies' high gun championship at the Home International in Dublin - and, on the same weekend, finished second overall in the British Open.

Husband Brian, with whom Sharon runs a building company, had been a clay pigeon shooting enthusiast for years before giving it up. When he made a comeback earlier this year, Sharon decided she wanted some of the action and soon proved to be a natural in the sport's 'down the line' discipline.

'Straight away I found I loved the sport and three months after starting I felt I had made enough progress to enter the Welsh selection shoots,' said Sharon.

'I thought it would just be for the experience, but a few weeks later I was surprised to find I had managed to secure the number one position on the ladies' team.'

Now she hardly misses a chance to take aim, usually visiting a club in Llandegla or the North Wales Shooting School in Sealand.

She has a good chance of representing Wales at an international contest in France next month and the World Championships could be in her sights next year.