Dubai: Despite losing out on possible Olympic glory, Great Britain’s ladies champion shooter Rebecca McKenzie is willing to do all she can to support Sport England’s ambitious ‘This Girl Can’ campaign.
The campaign, funded by the top sports body, is aimed at empowering girls to take up sporting activities with the end benefit of having them represent the national teams at Olympic Games and other international competitions.
McKenzie, who has won several national and international honours, had the distinction of being crowned the British Open shooting champion in 2013. Starting off as a flat race jockey in Newmarket. she moved on to shooting as a full-time occupation.
UK Sport, which determines how public funds are raised via the National Lottery and taxation and allocation to elite-level sport, have put shooting on their priority list after the national team’s performance in 2012 Olympics. This has benefited the likes of Shaikh Ahmad Hasher Al Maktoum-trained British shooter Peter Wilson, who struck gold in the men’s double trap and had his grant increased from £2.5m to £3m. The sports body has now set up an academy to train youngsters towards the 2016 Rio Games.
Now well past her 30s, McKenzie feels that time has passed her by where she could have donned the country’s colours at international competitions, especially the Olympics. “I would be tempted to think that I could have been among the medals at any Olympic Games if I did have the government support. Now it is a bit too late for me now and for others my age.
“This is the time for our youngsters to prove themselves and I would rather use my experience and talent and make myself useful in supporting the programme run by the sports bodies and help our youngsters realise their dreams,” McKenzie told Gulf News.
The British shooter stood 18th in the women’s competition at the inaugural Nad Al Sheba Desert Shooting last year but this week, she wants to finish at least in the top-10. “That would be a realistic goal for me this time. This is by far the most difficult shooting competition I have ever been to as everything depends on the desert conditions that can change within a few minutes. It is going to be a challenging four days and I am ready for this,” she added.
