Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Rama: Of tune-ups and fellowships By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
NO LESS than 72 shooters were at the AFP Central Command Firing Range, Sunday, as Kamagong Gun Club hosted the week’s leg of the shooting circuit competition sanctioned by the Philippine Practical Shooting Association (PPSA).
The event, says Kamagong’s Jun Liao, was designed to be a tune-up for the Balanghai Challenge 2, a 12-stage PPSA-sanctioned Level-3 event that will be held from May 14 to 17 at the PSA Butuan Firing Range, Barangay Bancasi, Butuan.
Benson Yu of Casey Gun Club dominated a field of 42 and became top gun in the Standard Division match. Teammate Nogie Biagan landed 2nd after a 14-point deficit in the hotly contested match.
Arestil Famor, one of Cebu’s faster-rising shooting athletes, clinched 3rd after landing a full 20 points from Biagan, with fellow NS Gun Range shooter Yogie Javier landing 4th, followed by Roel Diagon at 5th spot.
In the Production match, Keith Siao of Casey continued his winning streak with Oliver Glodove of the Cebu City Police Office landing a distant 2nd. At third spot is Atty. Ismael Trinidad followed by businessman Jack Rentuza and Kevin Uy.
Visiting United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) grand master Rey Abad took the top spot in the Open Division, garnering 470.80 points, while Ric Bono took the second spot thirty-six points behind.
Casey Gun Club’s Gene Co took third while Atty. Bayani Atup of the host club and Saldie Kheng of the Cebu Pistol and Rifle Association closed the winning five.
Action in the Open Division was limited to eight shooters as compared to the 42 entries in the Standard Match. The revolver category drew a single contestant, Atty. Trinidad, much like the modified event only had Manuel Regidor seeing action.
NO DINO. Noticeably absent in the competition was Dino Cinco, undoubtedly Cebu’s most prolific shooter, who until mysteriously dropping out of the shooting scene, dominated both the Open and the Standard Divisions for quite a while.
His dominance in the Open Division started sometime in 2003 and lasted until he suddenly shifted to the Standard Division, challenging the mainstays in the category, sometime in June of 2005.
His performance in the field drew the attention of Team Armscor, based in Marikina City, which took him into the fold. It is not known if he has left the team following his absence in the circuit.
The other winners in the match include: (Standard) Brandon Lariosa, 6th; Jason Capoy, 7th; SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, 8th; Eleno Kong, 9th and Julius Amicable, 10th. (Production) Dennis Panganiban, 6th; Roldan Quiseo, 7th; Luisito Ramos, 8th; Lito Ponay, 9th and Manolo Alcantara, 10th.
FRONT SIGHT. As this developed, the results of the two-division fellowship shoot hosted by the Front Sight Gun Club also last Sunday have been released.
In the Standard Division, Brandon Lariosa, seething from his sixth-place finish in the Kamagong event, clinched the top spot in the fellowship match held at the Front Sight Range in Tubod, Minglanilla, Cebu.
Consistently landing on the top spot in all three stages, Lariosa logged on a total of 289 points in the event. He was a full 85.22 points from the closest rival, Mario Abrenica.
Businessman Concord Fabillar, the gourmet behind every delicious Sizzler’s Chicken Roast, came in third with 163 points, as Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) warden Efren Nemeño and businessman Jack Rentuza closed the top five.
Curiously, the results say I won the production event.
Businessman Boy Loreño and Regional Trial Court Judge Mac Hadjirasul dominated the first stage to open in the event, a 16-round medium course, by landing first and second, respectively.
But Loreño fell to fifth place on his second stage, a nine-round short course, and only managed to land third in the last stage, the 32-round field course. Judge Hadjirasul, on the other hand, fell to 10th place in the short course and 13th place in the field course.
Meanwhile, through the intercession of some divine being, I progressed from a slow third-place start and somehow managed to stay on top in the short and field courses.
At the end of the day, the top seven shooters included myself, Loreño, Donnan Bacalso, Romy Aliganga, Alvin Empinado, Roperto Singson and Kim Magandia.
