Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Rama: A cup to paint the town army-green By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
THE deafening sound of gunfire will reverberate from inside the AFP Central Command Headquarters this weekend, as shooting athletes from all over the region compete for the ComCentcom Cup.
The two-day, six-stage match is jointly sponsored by Centcom and Kamagong Gun Club and dangles a total of 48 trophies in five divisions and eight categories.
Special awards, match director Jun Liao yesterday said, will also be given to shooters from the armed service, the police, as well as the shooters coming from the media.
The match was originally named the Ike Inserto Cup and was planned to celebrate Lt. Gen. Pedro Ike Inserto’s assumption as Centcom Commander last May 16. Inserto, an avid shooter, replaced Lt. Gen. Victor Ibrado, who is now the Commanding General of the entire Armed Forces.
Inserto, match planners told this certifiable gun-nut, however asked that the match be renamed the Commander Centcom Cup instead, adding that he wants it to be an annual event so that it will still be held once he is given another post.
So, the ComCentcom Cup it is.
PRIZE LIST. Contenders, match director Liao said, will be vying for the top three slots in the Open, Standard-High Capacity, Standard-Single Stack, Production and Revolver Divisions.
Awards will likewise be given to the two highest-scoring junior shooters in Open and Standard, the two highest—scoring women in both Open and Standard, and the two
top-scoring seniors (shooting term for anybody above 50) in Standard-High Cap and Single Stack, Open and Production.
Trophies will also be given to the two highest scoring military men and to the two highest-scoring reservists, policemen and other law enforcement agent.
Generals will also be trying to out-shoot each other for two slots in the winners’ circle, as will field grade officers (majors to colonels and chief inspectors to senior superintendents), company grade officials and enlisted men.
Match director Liao said there would also be team versus team action as the icing on the cake, followed by a fellowship on Sunday night.
THE COURSE. The match is sanctioned by the Philippine Practical Shooting Association and expects entries from as far as Luzon and Mindanao. It being partly a military affair, shooters from the other branches of the armed service are also expected to attend.
It offers six exciting stages of intense shooting action, designed in part by Kamagong Gun Club’s champion shooter, Roy delos Santos and, of course, the match director.
There will be two long courses requiring 31 rounds to finish for a perfect score of 155 points and two medium courses including one that features the Kamagong Shooting Star – a contraption with five spokes, on top of which is a metal plate, which spins when shot at.
On top of that will be a 12-round standard exercise that has shooters sitting down behind a table and another nine-round short course.
On the standard exercise, the shooter, upon start signal, is to pick up his gun, shoot three targets twice each while standing up, make a reload after six rounds and shoot the same three targets twice each from below the table.
How is that for intense?
FOLLOW-UP. The week after that tentatively follows the Kamagong Tactical Rifle and Shotgun Challenge, a six-stage two-gun match held in the tradition of the Kamagong Tactical Invitational of yore.
One of the driving forces behind the event is Col. Efren Nemeño, warden of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center, who, in turn, was one of the organizers of the very successful Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association Cup held a few weeks back.
From what I’ve gathered, the match presents tactical shooting challenges that shooters must overcome with the use of their rifles and shotguns.
Sanction from the PNP’s Firearms Explosives Security Agencies and Guards Supervisory Section is now being sought.
