FOR Myrtleford's own John Wojcik, the chance to represent his country in a sport he loves is a dream come true.

Wojcik is in the final stages of preparation before he competes in the Universal Trench – Veterans discipline at the 40th World Championship Finale Beretta World Cup, to be held in Umbriaverde, Italy from Monday, August 4 to Thursday, August 7.

A recent adopter of the universal trench discipline, Wojcik said he never expected to compete at an international level.

"It's a bit of a buzz, that one – I'm really looking forward to it," he said.

"When I was young I shot for about three and a half years, just shooting 'down the line' back in '77, '78, '79, but I gave it away for about 37 years.

"I've only started shooting that discipline a year and a half ago, I got talked into it by another chap from Wodonga that used to live in Myrtleford once upon a time, Bob Leita.

"He said 'have a go at it', so in–between the COVID problems, I had one qualification round in Melbourne then they had to cancel everything, the World Cup was cancelled.

"I had a crack at it again this year, and they had three qualifying rounds and I managed to be in the top three to represent Australia in the veterans' section – believe it or not, the bloke that talked me into it came thir...