Round 1 SA Championship Polokwane

GunSite SA | 1 June 2011 | 0 Comments

1st Round of SA Championships was held in Polokwane 18 to 20 March

The match was hosted at the Polokwane Shooting club situated in the Limpopo province. Shooting took place over 3 days with a total 23 stages and a round count of 432. What made this match so important was that this was the final selection match for National Team slots for the World Shoot being held in Greece in October.

With this match being the final selection match for selection in the National Teams Limpopo Province decided to put on a technically challenging match. The match was very well setup and the stages were challenging, providing different possible options to the shooters. The course design was excellent; I would rate the course design up with the best I have seen. A good mix of steel plates, mini targets, no-shoot targets and props made the match one of the matches where you had to shoot very carefully. On a technical basis the match compared well with the World Shoot that was held in South Africa in 2002 and surpassed the 2005 Ecuador World Shoot.

Officials, Administrators and Organizers

A big word of thanks needs to go to the Officials, Administrative personnel and organizers of the match. With very limited resources a very safe and well managed competition was held over the 3 days of shooting. As always the Stats team was insuring that prelim scores were available on time and that any scoring issues where quickly and addressed.

What stood out for me at this match were all the helpers, including members of the SAPSA executive who assisted in getting all the ranges setup so that we the shooters could enjoy an excellent shoot.

A big thanks needs to go out to the Range officers that had to endure some of the sprints over and over on the long courses as well as the maintenance team who did an excellent job in keeping all the stages running.

The Match

The match consisted of 23 stages with a total round count of 432 rounds. Target distances were anything from 2 meters to 35 meters and the targets ranged from 6” steel plates, mini paper targets, no-shoot targets, Pepper poppers, mini poppers and normal IPSC targets.

The props included plenty of barricades, swingers, bobbers and even a bus to run through. Cunning target placement meant that accuracy became a very important factor. Small plates at 12—15 meters as well as tight shots on hostage–covered targets meant that actual aiming became the order of the day.

The way in which the match was setup ensured a good mix of accuracy and speed.

SUMMARY

23 Stages, 432 Rounds, lots of plates and mini targets
186 Competitors:
60 Open Class
44 Production Class
79 Standard Class
South Africa, USA, New Zeeland, Czech Republic, Russia, Canada, Zimbabwe

Competitors

A total of 186 competitors took part in the 3 day match broken up into 3 classes as follows:

Open – 60
Standard – 79
Production – 40

There was also good international representation with competitors from USA, Russia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Canada and Zimbabwe competing.

Categories in the different classes where, Men, Ladies, Juniors, Seniors and Super Seniors. Medals were awarded in most classes.

Results

The results reflect the technicality of the match. All 3 classes were won by International shooters. It is worthwhile remembering is that these shooters are mostly professional sports people who are fully sponsored. Their exposure to many international matches also provided them with match-winning experience.

Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Kamenicek, Martin	CZE	Open
2	Smith, Eddie	RSA	Open
3	Montgomery, Hubert	RSA	Open
4	Wrogemann, Pierre	RSA	Open
5	Gogos, Alex	RSA	Open
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Montgomery, Hubert	RSA	Open S
2	van den Berg, Jan	RSA	Open S
3	Dadamia, Goolam	RSA	Open S
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Belletti, Carlo	RSA	Open SS

Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Garcia, Frank	USA	Production
2	Viktorovich, Onshin	RUS	Production
3	Wessels, Albert	RSA	Production
4	Christie, MH	RSA	Production
5	Lurie, Eugene	RSA	Production
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Hopper, Rob	USA	Production S
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Crossley, Guy	RSA	Production J
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Montgomery,Hanlie	RSA	Open L
2	van den Berg, Ets	RSA	Open L
3	Bierman, Alexis	RSA	Open L
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Znamenacek, Petr	CZE	Standard
2	Kolia, Muhammed	RSA	Standard
3	Engelbrecht, Jean	RSA	Standard
4	Peacock, Justin	RSA	Standard
5	Junge, Reinhard	RSA	Standard
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Rolls, Kevin	RSA	Standard S
2	Kurczewski, Slavek	RSA	Standard S
3	van Straaten, Andre	RSA	Standard S
Position	Name	Region	Class
1	Fischer, Joey	RSA	Standard L
2	O’Donovan, Sebella	RSA	Standard L
3	Keaney, Janis	RSA	Standard L

Teams for World Shoot XVI “Greece”

The teams were announced at the price giving function after the match ended on Sunday. The last two SA Championships held in 2010 as well as this match were used to select the squad that would represent South Africa at the World Championships.

The following members of SAPSA will represent South Africa at World Shoot XVI:

Name	Category
Carlo Beletti	Open Super Senior Individual
Rob Hopper	Production Senior Individual
Andre van Straaten	Standard Senior Team
Kobus de Wet	Standard Senior Team
Kevin Rolls	Standard Senior Team
Abraham J. van Vuuren	Standard Senior Team
Janis Keaney	Standard Ladies Team
Joey Fisher	Standard Ladies Team
Sebella O’Donovan	Standard Ladies Team
Eurika du Plooy	Standard Ladies Team
Hubert Montgomery	Open Senior Team
Jan van den Berg	Open Senior Team
Goolam Dadamia	Open Senior Team
Danny Schoeman	Open Senior Team
Johan Hattingh	Production Team
Paul Loock	Production Team
Jaco Jacobs	Production Team
Alan Betts	Production Team
Muhammed Kolia	Standard Team
Justin Peacock	Standard Team
Jean Engelbrecht	Standard Team
Heinrich Patzen	Standard Team
Alex Gogos	Open Team
Mohammed Osman	Open Team
Kenny v d Merwe	Open Team
Hishaam Ally	Open Team

In addition to the National Squad members, 11 individuals will also be participating at the World Shoot. Good luck to all and may you bring back gold.