Newbury’s Tim Jeffery claims shooting bronze at Paris Paralympics

Newbury’s Tim Jeffery showed all his fighting instincts to claim Great Britain's first Paralympic shooting medal since London 2012.

Jeffery, who was introduced to the sport by the Scout Association aged 11, made his Paralympic debut in Rio but just missed the medals in three final appearances in Tokyo.

This time he held his nerve as Serbia's Dragan Ristic took gold and Georgia's Vladimir Tchintcharauli silver in Chateauroux.

“It has been a hard week but I couldn’t be happier to win my first Paralympic medal," said Jeffery, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

"It was a struggle in qualification but a good end result. The bronze medal match was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time.

“I had to really dig deep and really trust the work I’ve put in over the last few years. I had to trust the process and there was some determination out there.

“It’s really good having two Brits in the final, we’ve both improved on our form from Tokyo.

“It’s incredible to be able to share this with my family, especially after the disappointment of the first half of the week. Hopefully this medal is the first of many, I’m still pretty young so hopefully I’ve got plenty more Games in my future.”

ParalympicsGB are set to win their 2000th medal during these Games with the sport of shooting benefitting from over £18m of investment since the National Lottery was launched 30 years ago.

And Jeffery, 28, claims it's that financial support that has enabled him to live his dreams in Paris.

"I just owe a huge thanks to everyone who has helped me get here, my loader Duncan, my coach Craig and Zoe, all the support staff on the team," he added.

"Everyone out there, play The National Lottery, because it allows people like me to compete and hopefully inspire others to go out there, participate in sport and reach their own dreams.

"I wouldn’t be here without it and it’s allowed me to win a Paralympic medal.

“When I first started, I didn’t realise there was a para path but as soon as I did, I got the bug for it.

“When I made the team just before London, something there made me think ‘I’m going to be on that podium one day’. All those years later, here I am."