A DISABLED sportsman is appealing for help to buy equipment that could turn him into a world-ranking champion.

Robert Parker narrowly missed joining the British Paralympic air rifle team, which flies out to the games in Sydney, Australia, in October.

He is the team's first reserve and ranked 7th in Britain, despite being hampered by his outdated, eleven-year-old rifle.

"On occasions I can beat members of the Olympic squad with this old air-rifle, so with better equipment I should be able to improve my position," he said.

Mr Parker, from Linden Court, Spennymoor, took up shooting six years ago, after an accident left him confined to a wheelchair.

He says the six members of the British team get National Lottery funding, but are still chronically under-funded.

"A team of seven of us went out to Australia to prepare for the paralympics last year and we did very well, we were proud of ourselves, but we saw teams training there from places like Slovenia, Iran and Iraq with more money than we had," he said.

Mr Parker can be contacted on (01388) 813237.