Japan’s Matsuda Tomoyuki and United States’ Kimberly Rhode win 2017 Shooter of the Year awards

It’s the second award for the 42-year-old Japanese shooter, who already claimed it once in 2010. For the American six-time Olympic medalist, instead, it’s the first Shooter of the Year trophy.

Kimberly Rhode of the United States of America and Matsuda Tomoyuki of Japan have been named the 2017 female and male Shooter of the Year, definitely sealing the 2017 season of shooting sport.

Both athletes won three World Cup medals along the season, then closing the year by clinching the crystal globe at the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND). Rhode (38) — who took women’s Skeet Gold in New Delhi and Acapulco (MEX), also winning Silver in Larnaka (CYP) — hit 56 targets in the final event of the season, securing her second consecutive ISSF seasonal title and also equalling the Skeet Women World Record.

42-year-old Matsuda Tomoyuki also took the spotlight in the Indian capital city, climbing on the highest step of the podium at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 and also pocketing the first ISSF World Cup Final title of his career a few months later, setting a new World Record on both occasions: first scoring 240.1 points, then nailing 241.8.

Along with the men’s 10m Air Pistol Gold won at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Matsuda took Silver twice during the 2017 ISSF World Cup Series: in Munich (GER) and Gabala (AZE), both times in the 10m Air Pistol Men event.

Here’s the top-10 athletes of the male ranking:

1. Matsuda Tomoyuki (JPN)
2. Istvan Peni (HUN)
3. Pavlo Korostylov (UKR)
4. Antonio Bailon (ESP)
5. Gabriele Rossetti (ITA)
6. Jitu Rai (IND)
7. Alberto Fernandez (ESP)
8. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS)
9. Oleh Omelchuk (UKR)
10. Torben Grimmel (DEN)

And the top-10 shooters of the female ranking:

1. Kimberly Rhode (USA)
2. Yuemei Lin (CHN)
3. Jessica Rossi (ITA)
4. Shi Mengyao (CHN)
5. Jolyn Beer (GER)
6. Zhang Jingjing (CHN)
7. Dania Jo Vizzi (USA)
8. Ray Bassil (LBN)
9. Andrea Arsovic (SRB)
10. Katharina Monika Jacob (USA), Penny Smith (AUS)

“It feels amazing! It’s been actually an incredible year for me, I worked so hard leading up to it, and it’s great to see it all come together. This is just an incredible honour, I’m super excited!” said Rhode.

“My goal now is to keep competing at the same level as I did in 2017…” she concluded. “At the end of the day, making the points and getting the quota are the main goals this year.”

“I feel honored,” commented the Japanese athlete. “To win this prize is an honour, and I will keep the memory of it as one of the most valuable moments in my career as a shooter and in my life.”

“The top event this year will be the ISSF World Championship in Changwon,” Matusda added. “I trained a lot for it, and to win there is my main goal this season.”

The award was assigned by the International Shooting Sport Federation according to the vote of the ISSF Coaches Advisory Committee, the ISSF Athletes Committee and a selected panel of media representatives.

Matsuda and Rhode — who respectively follow Italy’s Niccolò Campriani and Greece’s Anna Korakaki in the list of winners — will be honored with the trophy during the 2018 ISSF Season, kicking-off in a few weeks in Guadalajara (MEX), where the first stage of the 2018 ISSF World Cup Series will take place from March 1st to March 12th.

Live results of all the ISSF competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.

Marco Vettoretti


Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source ISSF Website

Birmingham´s decision to drop shooting from 2022 Games backed by CGF boss

Aaron Heading was one of England´s medallists at Glasgow 2014 but 
there will be no shooting stars at Birmingham 2022 (Gareth Fuller, PA)

By Press Association

PUBLISHED: 14:52 GMT, 19 January 2018 | UPDATED: 14:52 GMT, 19 January 2018

Commonwealth Games Federation boss David Grevemberg has taken the unusual step of writing an open letter to explain why shooting has not been included in Birmingham’s plan for the 2022 event.

Each host city must include the CGF’s 10 core sports in its programme but then has considerable freedom to pick at least seven sports from an optional list. These choices tend to be based on the venues available and the host nation’s medal prospects.

Birmingham, which was finally confirmed as the 2022 host in December, has announced it will be staging basketball, judo, gymnastics, table tennis and wrestling from the optional list. It is expected to add archery, track cycling and women’s T20 cricket.

But there is no place for shooting in Birmingham’s plan, which means the sport misses out for the first time since 1970. The move has provoked complaints from shooting powers such as Australia and India, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) and even the Countryside Alliance, which described the decision as a “deeply disappointing shock” and “shortsighted”.

Chief executive Grevemberg has responded by reiterating the CGF’s rules on which sports are compulsory and which ones are not, explaining that these lists were made by the organization’s general assembly in 2015 and then approved by the membership in 2016.

In his letter, the former Glasgow 2014 boss goes on to praise shooting as “a thrilling sport with a proud and longstanding heritage at the Commonwealth Games” and says he understands why some countries will be particularly disappointed.

But Grevemberg then underlines why it is so important for each host city to propose a programme “that complies with our agreed rules but also works best for them”.

He explains: “Our shared ambition is to broaden the pipeline of Commonwealth cities and nations wishing to realize the benefits of a Games – and to do that we must give our hosts the scope to propose and deliver their Games.”

This is a reference to the fact Birmingham was a late substitute for Durban after the South African city ran into financial problems and was stripped of the Games early last year. The CGF desperately tried to bring other cities into the race but was ultimately left with a choice of one: the winner of a two-city English beauty contest between Birmingham and Liverpool.

Grevemberg added: “We continue to build on our strategic partnerships with all sports across the Commonwealth sports movement and the CGF president will shortly meet the ISSF to discuss their future plans and ambitions to continue the development of shooting disciplines throughout the Commonwealth.”

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source: - http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Trapshooting fits Ashland youth’s competitive nature

STATE SHOOT: Christian Ray competes at the Cornhusker State 
Junior/Senior High School Shoot last May, where he was on the 
Ashland 4-H team that earned a first place high overall.

• By Suzi Nelson

ASHLAND – Christian Ray’s competitive nature led him to a sport he has grown to love.

About six years ago, Ray and his little sister, Camryn, shot trap for the first time at the rural Ashland home of their mother, Candice Ray.

Camryn hit more targets than Christian did.

“I couldn’t let her outdo me,” he said.

So Christian got better, and along the way he became passionate about the sport of trap shooting.

“I fell in love with it,” he said.

Christian’s early days of trap shooting were not easy. He recalled hitting only three of 25 targets in his first practice with the Ashland 4-H trap team under then-head coach Mike Abbott. “I walked off the line and I was crying,” he said.

In the six years since then, Christian has done a lot of growing up on and off the range. He credited his early improvement to finding the right gun.

“Part of the reason I shot so poorly at first was I didn’t have a gun that fit me,” he said.

Chuck Schulte, who has been head coach of the Ashland 4-H trap team for two years, said trap shooting is a difficult sport to master.

“Trap shooting is not like shooting a BB gun at a tin can, where the gun and the target are fixed,” he said.

Instead, the target is a 4.5-inch clay pigeon moving at 40 miles per hour from a thrower located inside a trap house. The shooter shoots at five targets each at five posts, or stations, on the range.

“You have to learn instinctively how to hit a moving target,” Chuck said.

There are both technical and mental sides to trap shooting, the coach said. They start by teaching the technical side, or the fundamentals.

“Once they start developing that, then we start to work with them on the mental side of it,” Chuck said.

Christian said he’s been told he overthinks things when shooting, but Chuck said Christian is good at both sides of the sport.

“Christian is one of our better shooters,” he said.

Christian set small goals early on as a way to improve.

“I was trying to beat my personal best every time,” he said.

Trap shooting also appeals to Christian because it connects him to his dad, Chris Ray.

“I’d always been interested in military stuff and guns because my dad’s a Marine,” he said.

The father/son duo shot together in a league for a few years, but Chris’ job as a police officer made it increasingly difficult to attend competitions.

“It was kind of cool shooting with him,” Christian said.

Now Chris is one of Christian’s biggest fans, attending many of his meets.

“He enjoys watching me,” Christian said.

So does Christian’s mom, Candice, who posts frequent photos on social media to show her pride for Christian’s accomplishments.

Christian enjoys the individual aspect of shooting sports.

“It’s calming because it’s just you, a gun and the target,” he said.

It is a contrast from basketball, the other sport Christian participates in, where the score depends on the entire team. He is a senior on the Ashland-Greenwood High School team.

Like basketball, however, there is a team aspect to trap shooting that Christian enjoys. In the team competition, five members of the team form a squad, and each shooter’s scores are compiled for the team score.

When pressed about which sport he preferred, Christian was quick to answer.

“I’d have to say trap,” he said. “It’s been much nicer to me than basketball has.”

The two sports overlap for a short time each winter as trap shooting practices began in mid-January in preparation for the 4-H/high school season that lasts from March to May. Once basketball ends, Christian will devote all of his attention to trap shooting.

Basketball even kept Christian from competing in trap for a short time last year, after he broke his elbow during summer league play. Once he healed, he got back out on the range and quickly slipped back into his winning ways.

“Once you have the fundamentals, the discipline and the mental side of it, you can get right back into it,” his coach said.

The Ashland 4-H trap team has about 70 members total in the junior (sixth through eighth grades) and senior (high school) divisions. Over 50 of those members are students from Gretna, as is Schulte. The other members are from Ashland-Greenwood, Yutan and other schools.

The team is headquartered at the Ashland Gun Club. Matt Riecken and Mike Abbott of Ashland also help as assistant coaches.

Over the years, Christian has placed individually at meets, but the highlight of his shooting career so far came last year at the Cornhusker Trapshoot in Doniphan, the state meet for 4-H and high school teams.

“We took first place high overall,” said Christian.

It is the top honor for 4-H teams, something that trap shooting teams aspire to each year, according to the coach.

“If you’re going to win something, that’s the one you want to win,” Chuck said.

Along with Ray, the team included Nathan Schulte and Kyle Rowin of Gretna, Hayden Bedlan of Yutan and Dylan Riecken of Ashland.

Three of the five members of the winning squad return for the 2018 season.

“Bearing that in mind, we have an awesome opportunity to have a very successful year with Christian’s help,” Chuck said.

Christian also has his sights set on winning an individual medal at this year’s state meet, which will be his final one.

“That’s my No. 1 goal this year by far,” he said.

The state meet concludes the 4-H/high school trap season. There are eight meets total this season.

Christian and the rest of the Ashland 4-H team will practice on Saturday afternoons until the weather gets warmer. Then they will increase their shooting time on the range.

“There’s a lot of preparation,” Schulte said.

Christian also competes as an individual in Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) contests during the fall.

He plans to continue to shoot trap after he finishes his 4-H/high school career.

“I plan on shooting ATA all my life, as long as I can,” Christian said.

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source - http://www.wahoo-ashland-waverly.com/ashland/news

I TROFEO INTERNACIONAL ALCOR DE TIRADORES VETERANOS

Ilistres Vetranos del Tiro Olimpico Español. A tiradores como ellos en
todo mundo dedicamos nuestro I Trofeo Internacional ALCOOR para
Veteranos los proximosdias 3 y 4 de marzo en Madrid.



Illustrious Veterans os the Spanish Olympic Shooting. To the shooters
like them all over the world dedicate our 1rst International ALCOOR
Trophy for Veterans next3rd and 4th of March in Madrid.
.
Antonio Hernandez y Diego Tomas Krichevskiy

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source: El Tiro Olimpico en Imagenes - FaceBook

2018 shooting Para sport Worlds: What you need to know

a Vadovicova is the reigning Paralympic R2 and R3 champion © • Wagner Meier

Shooters are gearing up for May’s Championships in South Korea

This year is not only a World Championships year for hundreds of shooters, but also the beginning of the qualification process toward the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The 2018 World Shooting Para-Sport Championships will take place from 1-12 May in Cheongju, South Korea. It will be the first event where athletes can secure quota places for their countries at Tokyo 2020.

Around 300 shooters from 60 countries are expected to compete.

The 2002 World Championships were held in Seoul, South Korea, and attracted 211 athletes from 36 countries. The last Worlds took place in Suhl, Germany, in 2014. Nearly 250 athletes from 50 countries competed for titles, with South Korea topping the medals table with 10 gold, three silver, and four bronze medals.

Here is a quick look at what is to come for shooters in their World Championships year:

Important events before Cheongju 2018…

Athletes still have two more major events where they can show off their form before Cheongju.

The World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, will take place from 19-28 March; and the Grand Prix in Szczecin, Poland, will follow from 11-14 April.

The Szczecin 2018 Grand Prix will be the last chance to earn 10m Minimum Qualifying Scores (MSQ) ahead of Cheongju 2018.

Last time out…

The last World Shooting Para-Sport competition of 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand, saw United Arab Emirates’ Abdulla Sultan Alaryani finishing with a good feeling. The Rio 2016 Paralympic silver medallist shot two world records, one in the R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1) and another in the R7 (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1).

South Korea could expect to cheer on Jinho Park, who also was on target in Bangkok. The reigning R3 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1) world champion captured gold in the event in Bangkok, followed by another win in the R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) in world-record fashion.

Last year also saw Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova maintain her form from Rio 2016, where she won the R2 (women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) and R3 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1). Her most recent competition was the World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, where she left with two individual medals, including a win in the R2.

Vadovicova’s R2 rival Cuiping Zhang did not compete in 2017, but the Chinese shooter is expected to find success in Cheongju after finishing runner-up to her Slovakian counterpart at Rio 2016.

More information will be made available on the event website.

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl.

Source: - https://www.paralympic.org/ns/2018-shooting-para-sport-worlds-what-you-need-know