World Cup USA Day 2

[USA Shooting]

USA pistol shooters miss medals; rifle shooters advance to next round

By Najasila Campbell
USA Shooting

FORT BENNING, Ga. - The qualification rounds for Men's and Women's Three-Position Rifle will feature all six U.S. athletes at the World Cup USA. In the first elimination round, Sgt. 1st Class Jason A.
Parker and Maj. Michael E. Anti of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit as well as Olympic champion Matt Emmons all advanced for the men; Jamie
Beyerle, Abigail Fong and Amanda Furrer advanced for the women.

Both juniors, Fong and Furrer shot for eighth and 14th place, respectively. They will be joined by 2007 World Cup USA Women's Air Rifle Bronze Medalist Beyerle who took seventh place in the qualification round today from 1 to 3:15 p.m.

Parker, Emmons and Anti all shot impressive first scores, topping the ranks in each of their respective rounds. They will continue their competition today from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Pool Outdoor Range.

In the Men's Air Pistol squad fight for a place in the finals competition on April 3, the shooters missed the mark by only one point.

USAMU shooters Sgt. 1st Class Daryl L. Szarenski shot for 13th place with a score of 578 and Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Rose hit lucky 21 with a 576; Brian Beaman shot for 28th at 573. Separating the finals from the spectators was only one point. Had Szarenski shot a stronger final 10-string, he may have won the overall tie to secure a place in the finals.

Taking all three of their athletes to the Men's Finals, Vladimir Isakov of Russia topped the charts. He shot a total of 685.7 with a
99.7 final to win the Gold by five points. Wojciech Knapik of Poland scored a better final than Isakov with a 100.7, but the gap was too vast for him to steal away the gold. Fellow Russian Vladimir Gontcharov landed in third with a total of 680.2, with his finals score of 101.2 nearly putting him ahead of Knapik.

Women's Air Pistol shooter 16-year-old Heather Deppe was the top lady shooter for Team USA. She finished 34th followed by Brenda Shinn who placed 35th. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Elizabeth A. Callahan landed in 45th. Deppe and Shinn shot the same score of 374, but Deppe's last 10 gave her the advantage when she bested Shinn by one point. Callahan shot a 370 against the international field.

The Czech Republic has a new World Cup champion. Lenka Maruskova stood above China's Jie Ren by just 1/10th of a point for the Gold. In the ninth shot of the finals, Ren fired an 8.6 to Lenka's 8.7 to ultimately give her the match. Viktoria Chaika of Belarus was the Bronze Medal winner with a total of 482.7. China nearly had two athletes on the podium, yet Li Wang was not able to gain the 1/10ths of a point that kept her off the podium.

In total, Team USA holds two medals in World Cup USA; China has four, Russia has two, and Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belarus all have one each. To access competition results, photos and daily updates visit www.usashooting.org.

The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit is hosting the International Shooting Sport Federation Rifle and Pistol World Cup USA through April 7 at the USAMU ranges off Dixie Road by USA Shooting, the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports.

Countries that are participating in the World Cup USA include:
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein,Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal,Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands.

Media are invited to cover the World Cup but should coordinate with the Fort Benning Public Affairs Office before coming to post.

The schedule of events is as follows:
April 4: Men's and Women's Three-Position Rifle competitions; Men's Three-Position Free Rifle Finals are at 4 p.m., followed by the Women's Three-Position Sport Rifle Finals at 4:30 p.m. and the Awards Ceremony at 5:30 p.m.
April 5: Men's Rapid Fire Pistol competitions, finals and awards.
April 6: Women's Sport Pistol competitions, finals and awards.
April 7: Men's Free Pistol and Free Rifle Prone competitions, finals and awards; Closing Ceremony.

For more information on the World Cup, call the USAMU Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436 or e-mail paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil.

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of the U.S. Army Accessions Command. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or http://www.usaac.army.mil/amu/. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S.
Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Sport Federation as the national governing body for the Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. For more information on USA Shooting, contact Public Relations Manager Najasila Campbell at (719) 866-4896 or
http://www.usashooting.com.)

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