Talented young shooter Josh Holden enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a superb display in the men’s under-21 air pistol event at the Welsh Open in Cardiff.

Aged only 13, the youngest in his competition, Josh was up against some exceptional and very experienced shooters, including one who finished ninth at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last month, and a shooter that has represented Great Britain at world and European Championships at junior level.

In the qualification rounds Josh achieved a new competition personal best score of 533 out of 600, qualifying for the final in sixth place.

In the knockout final an extraordinary start from Josh saw him open up a lead of 1.8 points after 10 shots over the Youth Olympian.

In fact Josh’s first 10 shots were so good he would have been running in second place in the senior men’s final which was taking place concurrently.

After 12 shots, the point in which the lowest athlete is eliminated from the competition in eighth place, Josh was still in front, although his lead had been cut to just half a point.

At the next elimination point Josh had dropped to second place and was coming under increasing pressure from the athletes running in third and fourth place.

The Manx youngster managed to keep a cool head and kept his form going so that he continued to hold second place through the next three elimination rounds, securing a podium spot in the process.

It was only on the 21st shot of the final that Josh was finally knocked down to third place, the position in which he was finally eliminated.

Josh was delighted to be on the podium and to receive a special commemorative mug as his prize, but if truth be told he seemed even happier to be given a KitKat by British Olympian Margaret Thomas in recognition of his performance!

In the women’s under-21 competition, Josh’s younger sister Kathryn (age 12) was extremely unfortunate to miss out on a place in the final.

Tying on points with the 2018 Scottish junior champion (another athlete that has represented Great Britain at the Junior World Championships on more than one occasion), Kathryn was given ninth place on the basis she had scored three fewer inner 10s than her fellow competitor.