The champion pistol shooter– who has competed at three Commonwealth Games – will carry the baton at Kempsey on the NSW mid-north coast on February 2.

Repacholi has won five Commonwealth medals since making his debut at the Melbourne games in 2006, where he won gold in the 50-metre pairs and bronze in the 10-metre pairs.

He picked up his first individual Commonwealth medal at the 2010 Games in Delhi, where he placed third in the 10-metre air pistol competition.

He stood on the podium twice at the Glasgow games in 2014, winning gold in the 10-metre air pistol and bronze in the 50-metre event.

And he is well on track to qualify for his fourth Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.

Repacholi is ranked first in both of his events with one round to go.

Fellow Cessnock Pistol Club member Blake Blackburn (who finished eight places ahead of Repacholi in the 10-metre at the 2016 Olympics) has been living in Canada this year and did not compete in the qualifying rounds.

The final qualifying event will be held in December at Brisbane’s Belmont Shooting Complex – where the Commonwealth Games competition will also take place.

The 35-year-old plans to retire from his sport after the Commonwealth Games and is hoping to go out on top.

“Win then retire,” he said.

Repacholi – who has also competed at four Olympic Games – said he was excited and proud to have been chosen to carry to baton.

“I’m really looking forward to it; it should be great,” he said.

Repacholi’s wife Alex and daughters Zoe, 4 and Asha, 2, will travel to Kempsey to watch his leg of the relay.

“It won’t be a brisk run, I’ll take my time,” the three-time Cessnock City Sportsperson of the Year winner said with a laugh.

The Queen’s Baton Relay’s closest stop to Cessnock will be Newcastle on Saturday, February 3.

The relay started at Buckingham Palace on March 13 (Commonwealth Day), when Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II placed a special message in the baton.

The baton has already been passed between thousands of people across Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe, and will arrive in Australia on Christmas Eve.

After 388 days and 230,000 kilometres, the relay will conclude at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony on April 4, when the Prince of Wales will remove Her Majesty’s message from the baton and read it aloud to declare the Games open.