Sanderson Maintains Pace for Bronze ISSF World Cup Final
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –-(Ammoland.com)- Pistol athletes rejoice-the USA’s Sergeant First Class Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) claimed a spot on the podium at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final in Wroclaw, Poland.
Sanderson, who won the first Men’s Rapid Fire quota this year, shot 581 match points. Teammate Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Fla.) shot 576 match points, and both athletes found themselves in the final.
In the new ISSF finals format, all athletes begin at a score of zero and achieve points or hits through a 9.7 point shot or greater.
The first competitor is eliminated after four rounds of shooting, and then one is eliminated each round thereafter until a winner emerges. Milev finished in fifth place with 19 hits. Sanderson (pictured above, photo ISSF) forged ahead with 17 hits after just four rounds and then 26 hits after seven rounds to win the bronze medal.
National Pistol Coach Sergey Luzov said the Americans have been working on “four second series consistency to improve numbers in the new finals format.” Luzov is “glad to see the hard work paying off” with improved finals scores.
Alexi Klimov of Russia won the silver medal with 30 hits and Christian Reitz of Germany shot 32 hits for the gold medal.
In Women’s 50m Rifle Three Position, the USA Shooting Team’s Jamie Beyerle (Lebanon, Pa.) finished in sixth place with 583 match points and 98.3 points in the final for a total of 681.3 points. The gold medalist was Barbara Lechner of Germany with 690.8 total points. German teammates Sonja Pfeilschifter shot 690.1 points for the silver medal and Eva Friedel shot 687.7 points for the bronze medal.
The USA’s Amy Sowash (Richmond) shot 578 match points to finish in tenth place. For complete scores and rankings, please visit the ISSF website.
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About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web at www.usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.