KENT shooter Joanne Pullen is aiming high following a double medal success on her England debut at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships in Belfast.

The 22-year-old, from Herne Bay, won silvers in the prone pairs, and three positional disciplines, a competition won by Commonwealth and Olympic competitor Sharon Lee.

She said: "I have always wanted to shoot for my country, and although this was my first international I was made to feel a big part of the team.

"Now I am looking ahead to the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, the Commonwealth Games two years later and the 2012 London Games."

Pullen took up the sport at the age of nine, following in the footsteps of her father Ray, an experienced shooter himself following a career in the Army, who is working towards qualifying as an instructor himself.

Pullen, one of a squad of 16 competing in Northern Ireland, and apparently surprised the England selectors who didn't expect her to be amongst the medals, and picked her to gain experience having not competed at this level before.

Now she wants to move even further up the ladder, and hopes to gain full athlete status in the near future which will assist her both financially and with her coaching."

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S HERNE BAY GAZETTE