LITTLE did Leani Van Dyk know that when she picked up a gun, five years later she would be shooting her way into the history books.The South African arrived in Australia on Sunday to prepare for the 2009 FITASC World Sporting Clay Target Shooting Championships in Laang.Her trip marks the first time a woman from her country has travelled overseas to compete in the world titles."I couldn't believe it when I heard," she said. "There are women that shoot there but to be the first one to do this, what an achievement."I'm very proud of myself."Being a young, blonde-haired girl surrounded by mostly men, it was easy to spot Van Dyk at yesterday afternoon's opening ceremony, which saw shooters parade from Warrnambool's Cannon Hill to the Civic Green behind their countries' flags.The 24-year-old conceded shooting wasn't a popular female sport in South Africa."They play a lot of team sports like netball and hockey and they play tennis as well," she said. "In the beginning it was difficult (being surrounded by mostly males)."People look at you and say 'why do you do it?'."I'm interested in it. And if you're good at something, why not?"The Pretoria resident picked up a shotgun at a friend's farm five years ago.She conceded the leap from a novice to a professional required a lot of hard work and good coaching.Competitors of the titles had two practice days at Laang shooting range on Monday and Tuesday to adapt to the south-west conditions.The western Victoria wind is not something Van Dyk is too concerned about."We've got a lot worse weather than this," she said after explaining she had enjoyed her short stint in the region."It's so stunning and the people are unbelievable. Everyone's so nice."Van Dyk will enter the women's section at the titles."Since it's my first time, I'm hoping to just go out there and shoot my best and hope all the hard work I've put in pays off," she said. "Top-10 would be great."I'll just go out there and shoot one day at a time though."More than 600 shooters from 26 countries will take aim at Laang.They will fire at 200 targets during the four days of competition, which will see four other categories contested - juniors, open, veterans and super veterans.It is the third time the world titles have been held in Australia, with the last hosted in Mount Gambier in 1994.