Henares sets new bench rest mark

MANILA, Philippines - Daniel “Danby” Henares shattered the Philippine record and matched the world record in the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) Bench rest shooting monthly qualifying competition recently at the Marine Range in Taguig.

Henares shot 747 out of a possible 750 points in the 50-meter rim fire light varmint class to bag the gold medal and break the 746 national record set by Auksie Estrada last October during the Philippine Open.

After two scoring sheets, Henares was leading the contest but needed a perfect score on the last card to set a new national record. “I had three shots to go and thought it was impossible but I cleaned out the targets. It just feels great to hold the record,” he said.  

Jimmy Maniwang took the silver with a 739 and Nick Lagustan the bronze with 738.

The competition also served as first qualifying match for the 2015 World Rim Fire Airgun Bench rest Federation World Championship in Brisbane.

Henares, who used a German Anschutz rifle, did not only reset the Philippine record but also tied the world record of Hall of Famer Carl Boswell during WRABF event in Czech Republic last Sept. 2013  

It was a sweet reward for Henares, who was not on the national team that competed in the Czech Republic last year.

Bench rest shooting requires a shooter to use an Olympic match rifle to hit a 1mm target at 50 meters.  The win came just as Henares was trying to recover from a long layoff of 10 months.

“Actually, Henares tied the world record by scoring 747.  This event is important because they are qualifying for the national team,” PNSA executive Richard Fernandez said.  

“If Henares could score this high also in qualifying matches, we expect him to do better as a member of the national team.”