A quartet of Norfolk teenagers have been recognised as being among the top competitors in their sport by being selected for a team to shoot against New Zealand.

A quartet of Norfolk teenagers have been recognised as being among the top competitors in their sport by being selected for a team to shoot against New Zealand.

The four - Rachel Knight, Ed Johnson, Roland Johnson and Harriet Bennett - have been chosen to be members of the 12-strong British Schools team that is to compete against the New Zealand Schools in a postal smallbore (.22 inch calibre) target rifle shooting match. All are members of the rifle club at Gresham's School in Holt.

Seventeen-year-old Rachel, the club captain, is already a veteran of national teams, having shot for the British Schools in the same contest last year as well as for England in the Schools Home Internationals.

Ed, 16, from Colkirk, is almost as experienced. He numbers formerly being the British Schools Under 15 smallbore champion amongst his successes.

Roland, Ed's 14-year-old brother, is the current British Under-16 smallbore champion, and another member of the Norfolk county team.

Harriet, 16, from Field Dalling, is currently enjoying a run of form that shooters with many years more experience would be envious of, scoring at least one 'ton' at every shooting session recently.

In the postal match, each team member has to shoot two specially issued targets, which have a sticker attached behind one of the ten aiming marks. Once the team has shot, the team manager of each country posts the targets to an independent scorer who determines the winning team.