A teenage girl is taking the world of clay pigeon shooting by storm.

Stephanie Meachen, 16, from Denby Dale, has enjoyed a meteoric rise since first picking up her shotgun in September last year.

Now Stephanie is set to star in the British Open Sporting Clay Shooting Championship at West Midlands Shooting Ground near Wolverhampton from Wednesday to Sunday, (Aug 30-Sept 3).

The Shelley College student says that although she first began taking an interest in shooting when she went hunting with her father Graeme aged just six, it’s only since September that she began training in earnest.

Clay Pigeon shooter Steph Machen of Skelmanthorpe

Her arrival in the ladies team is a result of her superb qualifying posts which began in April and left her competitors floundering.

The competition saw her shooting at Beverley, Goole, Hartlepool, Blackpool and Northumberland.

Stephanie said: “It’s your best three shots that count. I got 81/100 at Goole, 85/100 at Beverley and 77/100 at Hartlepool.

Clay Pigeon shooter Steph Meachen of Skelmanthorpe

“I’m over the moon at my selection, it’s more than I could have hoped for really.

“I owe a lot to my coaches Linda and David Grayson from Tankersley for their encouragement and my dad Graeme who has been shooting most of his life.”