A north Norfolk target rifle shooter has been enjoying an early Christmas present - selection for a Great Britain team on an overseas tour.Antony 'Ant' Ringer (pictured), who farms at West Rudham, is one of 13 shooters who are to tour New Zealand in 18 months' time.

A north Norfolk target rifle shooter has been enjoying an early Christmas present - selection for a Great Britain team on an overseas tour.

Antony 'Ant' Ringer (pictured), who farms at West Rudham, is one of 13 shooters who are to tour New Zealand in 18 months' time. For Ringer, it is another milestone in a glittering shooting career stretching back over 25 years.

Now a mainstay of the smallbore (.22 inch calibre) rifle club at Fakenham and a member of the Norfolk smallbore team, most of his achievements have come in the fullbore (7.62 mm calibre) world, where he is a member of the Uppingham Veterans' Rifle Association.

Since the age of 19, Ringer, who is 42, has been a prominent member of the highly successful Norfolk fullbore team.

At Bisley, he took one of the 'Big Three' competitions, the St. George's, in 1990, going on to become the only person to successfully defend it in 1991. He has won the Blue Riband event of fullbore shooting, The Queen's prize, in 1992, 1997 and 2001, and is one of only two active shooters of the modern era to have achieved such a triple.

Ringer believes that he has it in him to become the first person in over 140 years to win a fourth Queen's Prize.

He was the fullbore world champion in 1992 and 1995, and took part in the Commonwealth Games in 1994 and 1998, winning a silver medal in the former. Over the years, he has shot for Great Britain or England on overseas tours on over 10 occasions.