The 18-year-old has a maiden Olympic Games berth in his sight, but this week is determined to secure three quota spots for Australia first before securing his own spot.

‘‘Obviously, that can be quite disheartening if I got the quota [for Australia] and then didn’t get to go, but that’s the way of the Olympics,’’ Groves said.

‘‘That’s not something I am focusing on at the moment – I am just focusing on getting someone to go.

‘‘Put it this way, no one’s going at all otherwise, and for me it would be a personal achievement anyway.’’

Groves will competing in the 10m air pistol, 50m free pistol and 25m rapid fire events at the Oceania Continental Championship at the Sydney International Shooting Centre starting tomorrow.

The championships act as Olympic qualifiers for eight nations heading towards the 2016 Games in Brazil.

No matter how good his performances in Sydney, Groves will have to return for next year’s Australia Cup competitions in February and March that act as Olympic qualifiers to secure a spot on the plane to Brazil.

‘‘My chances of securing a spot are pretty good,’’ he said.

‘‘I actually won those two events at the beginning of the year, so I just got to do it again.’’

Groves is ranked among Australia’s top five in all three disciplines and was the leading air and free pistol shooter until university commitments took precedence in October.

The ocean engineering student said he has refocused to secure Oceania gold medals to benefit Australia.

‘‘This year has been a really tough year juggling between uni and training,’’ he said.

Heading into the continental qualifying event, Australia has so far won four quota places for Rio and has the opportunity to seal another 15 places across the six days of competition until December 2.

Shooting Australia chief executive officer Damien Marangon said Australia will be looking to maximise its home-ground advantage at the event.

‘‘This is a great opportunity for us to get Australians to the Olympics and for our aspiring Olympians to perform when it matters,’’ he said.