Progress on the road to the Tokyo Olympics, but shooting remains in lockdown for all but the select few, says Anita North

Anita North has won silver and gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. She is a British Shooting coach and the England OT Team Manager

I am writing this article at the end of January and we are in another time of restrictions due to Covid-19. However, there has been super exciting news this month – there’s progress on the road to Tokyo and there’s some more planning to be done for the months ahead.

On 13 January, British Shooting announced the shooters who will use the quota places already obtained to represent Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. A massive congratulations to all selected.

Among the shooters announced are the clay shooters Kirsty Hegarty, Matthew Coward-Holley and Aaron Heading who will compete in Olympic Trap. I will be watching the competition from my home and cheering for British success in all of the shooting events in the Olympics and Paralympics.

I was fortunate to interview Kirsty and Matt shortly after they each won the quota places that will now take them to Tokyo, so have an idea of how much this will mean to them. It takes so much to get to this stage and I know that all concerned will be putting in their heart and soul as they build up to the Games.