BASILDON’S Paralympic star Adam Fontain has been on target again in his quest for international glory.

The 23-year-old finished fifth in the prestigious World Championships R4 class rifle competition held at Stoke Mandeville.

The elimination stage of the event proved tough for Fontaine who posted a decent 145.1 total, but was pipped into fourth place by Australia’s Mark Bradley on 16. The winner was Aussie marksman Jason Maroney.

Fontain – who competed for Team GB in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London in the 10m rifle disciplines – is already eyeing up Rio in 2016.

Fontain’s disability stems from two strokes suffered when he was eight and nine years old.

Doctors did not expect him to survive and when he did they said he would probably not walk again. But he proved them wrong and went on to excel at sport.

He can now walk, although he’s partially paralysed on his left side with his left arm remaining incapacitated.

Fontain attended Basildon’s St Teresa’s Primary School and Chalvedon School.

The former Pitsea man, who went to sixth form college now lives in Fryerns in Basildon.

His kick start in the world of sport came in 2002 when he joined Basildon Disabled Sports Club and took initially to swimming and table tennis.

In the pool he was fast, scooping bronze in a tournament in Belgium and also bagging a silver medal in 2005 in the British National table tennis games. He only lost out to the then world number two.

But coaches thought that his competitive personality would suit other sports too.

And, at the suggestion of Betty Jeffrey – who is chairman of the club – he tried rifle shooting.

He was good at target shooting and Jeffrey, herself a national disabled rifle shooter, encouraged him.

He went on to train at Stoke Mandeville and in 2007 became a member of the GB Paralympic Team.

Fontain has competed in numerous national, international and world events.

His shooting highlights including world cup golds, equalling the world record with the maximum score of 600/600.

Over the last few months he’s been racking up a lot of success on the world shooting stage.

In the autumn he was part of the team which won gold at the European Championships in Alicante.

And in February he won silver at the British championships.

Now his main target is the world championships this summer which should be a major stepping stone on the way to the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.