The Sunday News
Lovemore Dube, Sports Correspondent
FORGOTTEN Zimbabwe rifle shottist Darren Enslin has been appointed Australia captain.
The 1999 world shooting champion confirmed the news on Thursday from his Australian base.
Enslin, who shoots for Queensland at provincial level was appointed recently after the Anzac Riffle Malabar Open.
The former world champion was part of the Queensland Open side of 17.
His wife Gillian Webb-Enslin was also part of the team while their son Dean took part in the Under-25s in which they were second to New South Wales.
“I am captain of both the State of Queensland that I reside in and also for the national team.
“My son Dean is the captain of the Under-25 Australian team. We are competing in the Australia match in Bloemfontein in March, it is a three-way test with the Republic of South Africa, Great Britain and Zimbabwe,” said Enslin.
An elated Enslin said he would also skipper the Australian team at the 2019 World Championships to be hosted by New Zeland.
“It will be an emotional return for me in Bloemfontein in March as that is where I shot to international stardom as an unknown,” said Enslin, the 1999 World Long Range Championship.
He said there have been lighter moments in previous competitions with British shottists teasing the Aussies.
“We know the Zimbabweans are shooting well, how about the convicts (Aussies),” said Enslin a 1999 Zimbabwe Sportsperson of the Year finalist.
Enslin said Zimbabwe was still a much talked about country in the sport with another great Wayne Lancaster having won a world shoot in 1977.
He said the Zimbabwean talent is spoken about highly in Australia even in other sporting disciplines with Hilton Cartwright now in the Australian Test cricket team. Cartwright who grew up in Marondera and attended Ruzawi with Enslin’s son, was fortunate to get an elite athlete’s vice-chancellor scholarship at an Australian university. Target shooting he said was quite big.
Enslin is vice-president of the Queensland Rifle Association as a director which he does voluntarily.
Next week he will visit New Zealand for a Test with his national team in readiness for a tour of South Africa.
