Deanna_Coates_Beijing_September_7_2008January 23 - With just over 18 months to go until the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Britain's top disabled shooters, including Deanna Coates, have been pitting their wits against able-bodied shooters at the Hell Open in Norway.


The event, which took place in Trondheim, Norway, saw Britain compete in a unique format competition where athletes competed in the same events on three consecutive days or a combination of events throughout the championship.

Britain's nine shooters took part in the event, along with disabled shooters from Norway and Sweden, as a warm up competition to the squad's first international of 2011 - the Poland Shooting World Cup in March.

Coates, a member of the The Rushmoor Mallards Sports Club for the Disabled who has represented Britain in seven Paralympics, shot 397 out of 400 in the R2 Air Rifle, which is an international personal best for the Hampshire athlete.

She shot a fantastic final of 103.7 and finished with a total score of 500.7, which is 1.4 points higher than the world record of 499.3 of Kim Im Yeon of South Korea.

Coates followed up that with another top performance in the R3 10m Air Rifle, where she shot 599 out of 600.

Paralympic champion Matt Skelhon, proved he is still on form, by scoring 600 out of 600 in the R3 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1, which is equal to the world record.

While there was similar success for Ryan Cockbill, Georgina Callingham and Adam Fontain, who all scored 600 out of 600 in the R5 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2, which are perfect scores and for Cockbill an international PB. Hereford shooter James Bevis, scored 599 out of 600 in the same event.

There were further top performances for Pam Grainger, who scored 363 in the P2 Air Pistol, an international PB, while Nathan Milgate shot 593 in the R1 Air Rifle.Jean guild shot 359 in P2.

Pasan Kularatne, Britain's team manager, said: "This was a very good warm up competition, where shooters had more than one opportunity to compete.

"I am pleased with the overall performance of the GB squad and especially with IPBs and three perfect scores."