ECSTATIC paintballing machine Phil Southgate shot his way to a silver medal for Great Britain veterans in St Tropez.

The 41-year-old and his teammates returned home from the European Championships with silverware after a fruitful weekend.

On their way to second place, they beat the likes of Germany and Ukraine but lost to France in the final.

Southgate, who plays as a snake runner, told the Journal he was delighted with the feat he had achieved.

“The French came out very hard and fast with firepower, they knew the field better than us, if truthful, but this was expected since the GB team had only practised/played together three times before coming over to St Tropez, whereas the French had been practicing for months.”

“We were beaten 4-0 but not disheartened as knew we would probably lose to them, walking away with our heads held high and being proud of what we had done and achieved whilst out there, representing our nation.”

The paintballer, nicknamed Toothless Weasel, was picked to represent his country after being selected from a series of trials in January.

His home club is Salisbury Cardinals, who he plays for regularly with his £1,400 gun.

He added: “I’m now in training for the rest of the season with the Cardinals but have been approached by a couple of other British teams to represent and play for them which is a compliment.

“I was also complimented by the head coaches of the Norway and Ukrainian teams, plus the chief marshal, saying I was probably the fastest veteran snake runner they had seen in a long time.”

Southgate now has his eye on September trials with the GB squad in hope of representing them next year and in future tournaments.