STEVE LE COUILLIARD put in a super round of shooting this morning in the 50m rifle pairs competition at the Commonwealth Games.

Although the pairing of Kevin de Gruchy and Le Couilliard finished 12th out 19, Le Couilliard performance placed him as the seventh best shooter on the day, something which he said will give him confidence for the single’s event next week.

‘It was a tough round actually because the wind here can do a 180 in a second so I really had to concentrate and focus and I am mentally shattered right now,’ Le Couilliard said after the event.

‘But I am pleased with my shoot and am looking forward to the singles next week.’ His partner de Gruchy was less pleased with his round.

‘To be honest I am disappointed with that by my standards.

I feel that I can do much better.

I had problems adjusting for the wind, but I hope to change my sights for the singles.’ In the 50m rifle, Le Couilliard shot 100, 99, 100, 98, 96, 96 giving him a total of 589 out of 600.

De Gruchy shot 95, 94, 96, 98, 97, 94 giving him a total of 574.

Meanwhile, in the 10m air pistols, Jersey’s Michael Quénault and David Ward finished 13th after a steady performance at Melbourne’s International shooting centre.

After his shoot, Quénault said: ‘I found it quite difficult today because I was placed next to the Australian number one and had a lot of cameras clicking away all of the time.

This disturbed my concentration and clearly his in the end because he asked them all to go away.

‘I would have hoped to have done better, but I’ll put this behind me now and look to the singles next week.’ Quénault shot 91, 91, 96, 95, 92, 91 to give him a total of 556 out of a possible 600 while Ward shot 89, 91, 91, 91, 89, 94 giving him a total of 545.