mmg.com.au

Shepparton pistol shooter Bruce Quick hopes a ‘‘home ground advantage’’ will edge him closer to a third successive Olympic Games berth this weekend.

Shepparton Amateur Pistol Club will host a round of the Australia Cup, which forms part of the major selection criteria for July’s London Games, starting tomorrow and finishing on Sunday.

Quick, who competed in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, is locked in a two-man battle with David Chapman for the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol position.

He teamed with Chapman at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games to claim a bronze medal in the pairs 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, which was Quick’s 14th medal at Commonwealth Games.

Quick said he was confident a good round at his home club could push him ahead of Chapman.

‘‘David Chapman has been in really good form lately, so there is no doubt that I will have to shoot well,’’ Quick said.

‘‘But we are on my home turf and hopefully that gives me a bit of an advantage.’’

The Australian team is to be announced by Australian International Shooting Limited in April, with the team to be selected based on the number of qualifying scores an athlete has achieved prior to selections.

Quick won an all-important 25m Rapid Fire Pistol quota, which ensured a position for the Australian team in the event at the London Games, in November.

Along with Quick, Mooroopna-connected shooter Daniel Repacholi will also continue his quest for an Olympic team berth at the three-day competition. Repacholi’s father is a Mooroopna resident.

Dookie national champion Ben Hall will also compete, but is not in contention for an Olympics berth.

Quick, who is also the president of the Shepparton Amateur Pistol Club, said the event would prove an historic one for the club.

‘‘There is no doubt that it is the biggest and most important shooting event ever put on by the Shepparton Pistol Club,’’ he said.

‘‘It was quite an achievement to convince the governing body to have a meet of this importance outside of a metropolitan area.

‘‘We are certainly very glad they chose our club.’’

He said there would be 54 competitors lining up, which would be the ‘‘cream of Australian pistol shooting’’.

Quick said the club, which is off Shepparton-Dookie Rd in Pine Lodge, had undergone refurbishments to ensure it was up to international standard.

He said the meet had sparked a lot of interest in the Goulburn Valley shooting community.

‘‘There has been a resurgence in interest from club members and former club members and the Shepparton Pistol Club is looking as good as it ever has,’’ he said.

Events will start each day from 8.30am with admission for spectators free.