Harding Wins Canada’s First Shooting Spot for 2019 Pan Am Games

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TheGunBlog.ca — Allan Harding, the Canadian pistol champion, won enough international match points today for Team Canada to send its first shooter to the next Pan Am Games. The country has won gold the past three times and gone on to the Olympics.

Harding was competing in 10-metre air pistol in the Championship of the Americas in Guadalajara, Mexico. Each country’s athletes shoot for limited quota spots in pistol, rifle and shotgun events.

“I just won Canada’s first quota spot for shooting at the 2019 Pan Am Games next summer!” Harding said on Twitter today from Guadalajara.

https://twitter.com/TheGunBlog/status/1058773780603039749

The Shooting Federation of Canada will decide in May on who will represent the country at the Pan American Games next July and August in Lima, Peru. (The editor of TheGunBlog.ca is a member of the SFC. See more disclosures on our About page.)

“Congratulations to Canada’s Allan Harding for winning Canada’s FIRST quota spot for the 2019 Pan American Games!” the federation said on its website.

Trudeau vs. Harding

Harding’s biggest opponent may be his own prime minister. Justin Trudeau is considering ending Harding’s athletic career by banning handguns and other firearms used by millions of Canadians for recreation and competition. He’s also planning Bill C-71 to put sport shooters in prison unless they get special police permission to transport their guns.

Harding, a 43-year-old from British Columbia, is competing in Mexico with Kimberly Britton, Elizabeth Gustafson and Lea Wachowich of Alberta, and coach Lisa Borgerson of Saskatchewan.

Road to Olympics

All scores determine quota spots for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The Pan Ams are traditionally Canada’s best event for picking up Olympic quota spots, Harding said.

Canadian women won the 10-metre air-pistol event in the last three Pan Am Games: Avianna Chao in 2007, Dorothy Ludwig in 2011 and her sister, Lynda Kiejko, in 2015. Each went on to shoot for Team Canada in the following Olympics.

“Time for me to win men’s in 2019!” Harding told TheGunBlog.ca.

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