Wednesday, November 05, 2008 Rama: Hitting it big in Bali By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
FILIPINO shooters who took part in World Shoot XV, which opened in Bali last Oct. 27 and ended last Saturday, ended their bid with a big bang – the top spot in Modified Division, three medals in Open, and two more in Production.
One shooter from Cebu City also did fairly well. Policeman Chris Panes landed number eight in the Revolver Category.
Many of the top-scoring Filipinos shot under the American banner, having been drawn to the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). The Americans, in turn, dominated two of the three divisions in the largest practical shooting match in the world.
Jojo Vedanes, among those who who carried the USPSA colors, took the top spot in the Modified Division, beating such named contenders as Michael Voigt, the incumbent USPSA president.
The Philippines is considered a powerhouse in the category, with Jeufro “Jag” Lejano winning the crown in World Shoot XIV (Ecuador, 2005).
Voigt landed third in the race, just a hundred points plus ahead of another Filipino shooter, Christopher Panganiban, who took fourth place. Two more Filipinos landed in division’s the top 10 – Harold Palaygo and Bernardo Mari Alejandro.
In the Open Division, France’s Eric Grauffel retained his crown, winning his fourth straight World Shoot the WS-XII in Cebu in 1999. The 28-year-old Fratelli Tanfoglio and Armscor sponsored athlete topped in eight of the competition’s 35 stages, setting the lead and keeping the pace for the 352 other hopefuls in the category to follow.
But Grauffel, who has been in Cebu twice, including once in October 2006 where I had the pleasure of a one-on-one interview, fought tooth and nail to hang on to the crown.
His chief competitor was a young Filipino-American by the name of Kamille “KC” Eusebio, who chased him all the way to the last stage, leaving only a gap of 135.7876 points–a 3.49-second actual time differential.
Grauffel finished the 35 stages in 328.25 seconds, official time. Eusebio, on the other hand, clocked 331.74.
Eusebio landed second place in the competition and, in so doing, clinched first place in the division’s Junior Category.
Another Filipino-American, Athena Lee, went home with a category trophy, winning for the second time the Ladies Category of the Open Division match. She yanked the title from Austria’s Gabriele Kraushofer who won in in Wold Shoot XIV in Ecuador.
Athena won it first here in Cebu in 1999, during World Shoot XII. But she lost it to another Filipino, Kaye Cabalatungan of Negros Occidental, in World Shoot XIII in South Africa, who then lost it to Kraushofer in Ecuador.
Another Filipina shooter, Mary Grace Tan, made it to the top spot in the Ladies Category, landing fourth.
Tan outscored contenders like Linda Blowers of Australia and Kay Clark-Miculek, daughter of the late James Clark of Clark Custom Guns Inc., and wife of Jerry Miculek, recognized as the world’s fastest shooter (eight rounds, four targets, all hits in 1.06 seconds).
In the Standard Division, Travis Tomasie of the USPSA took the top spot; Claire Giles of Australia won the ladies match; Carlos Palma of Ecuador won the juniors’ category; while Esterimo Magli and Max Weigand Sr. clinched the senior and super senior categories respectively.
In the Production Division, the Czech Republic’s Adam Tyc remained unstoppable.
Filipinos Ma. Inez Jorge and Wilfredo Anglo, on the other hand,took home the gold in the Ladies and Seniors Category.
In the Revolver Division, Chris Panes of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) landed eight place. He topped stage eight of the 35-stage match, scoring 44 points – eight alphas, one charlie – in 14.58 seconds.
Another Filipino shooter, Philipp Chua of Ormoc City, landed third in the Revolver Division, following Ricardo Lopez Tugendhat of Ecuador and Andrea Todeschini of Italy.
