By Prudence Minayo
Agnes Wangechi Muchiri ranks as the best female sharpshooter in Kenya. While sports like athletics and football have always taken center stage in Kenya, shooting as a sport hardly makes news headlines. A police constable working with the DCI Forensic Department, Agnes has taken part in numerous shooting competitions across the country. She thanks her employer, family and friends and trainer for their support in the sport.
She also emphasized on discipline being an important aspect for anyone who handles guns. Here is her story as told by WoK.
Education
She was born in Hola, Tana River where she also attended school. Soon after finishing high school, she got employed and afterwards studied Psychological Counseling at Kenya Methodist University.
Shooting Competitions
The first time she used a gun was when she was training at Kiganjo. Prior to this, she thought it was something heavy and that it made too much noise. When she touched it, she fell in love with the weapon. She had seen it in movies but at that time it was a reality and she came to enjoy it very much.
She joined the Coast Province Shooting team and played for them handling both the hand gun and the rifle. She was, however, better with the hand gun. During her first competition, she performed very well but the team didn’t do as well.
After her transfer from Mombasa to Nairobi, she joined the shooting clubs around the city and took part in various competitions. In 2008, when she started participating in competitions, she was not as good as she is now as she never made it to the top position. She was either number 3 or number 2 very few times. One of the top male shooters in the country known as Ndung’u saw her potential and began training with her. Then, she started winning trophies and coming at the top.
Competitions
She went on to win several medals and during recent world competitions in Italy, she came second. There was also a very slim margin between her and the winner of the competition who is an Italian. She believes in the next competition, she can beat her.
Before taking part in competitions, she has to go to the range, make sure her firearm is in order and check on her skills. Taking the right diet is important and the major thing is ensuring mental stability.
She is preparing for the next world competitions in Thailand where two women will represent the country.
