Munich hosted the ISSF World Cup from 16th - 22nd June, with almost 1500 indvidual event starts from the 900 athletes present. Ireland was represented by Comdnt. Ray Kane, Gary Duff and Peter Friend who together competed for honours in five events - 50M Prone Rifle, 50M Free Pistol, 50M Three Positions, 10M Air Rifle and 10M Air Pistol.
Read on for competition report and photos from the event:
Despite the prior promises of the organisers for balmy weather during the month of June, the actual competition days except the second last one were marred by squally winds and rain and variable light conditions.
A very early start on Saturday for Ray and Peter who were competing in the 50M Free Pistol and 10M Air Rifle events respectively. Having had a good pre-event practice on the Friday, Peter had to contend with an intermittent problem on the target hardware not registering some shots during sighters. The jury conferred but considered that there was insufficient reason to move Peter to another target. Again, during his competition series, Peter had to grapple with target problems and the close attention of the jury members and finished with a credible 513 despite the conditions. As a footnote, this target unit failed totally during the competition series on the next relay and the range officers had to move the competitor to a new target. There were also issues with the transfer of the scoring data from the Polytronic system to the Sius Ascor web system, resulting in incorrect representation of Peter's shots on the target graphics. These were later corrected after discussion with the classification office.
Ray had no such issues with his 10M AR60 match and went on to obtain an Olympic MQS (minimum qualifying score) and claim a new Irish record score in an international match with 584 points! The same afternoon saw Ray and Gary on the 50M range in pre-event training for the prone event. Light conditions were very gloomy by the time Ray had finished.
A slightly later start on Sunday for the 50M prone eliminations saw Gary and Ray in action. Tricky wind and light conditions affected all the shooters. Gary's score of 585 saw him through to the qualification round, but Ray didn't quite make the cut with a score of 582.
Another 8.30 detail start time saw Gary in the qualifying relay of the 50M prone on Monday. His score of 588 exceeded the prone MQS. Peter trained for his 10M match and Ray trained later in the day for his relay in the 50M 3x40 event, again in poor lighting conditions.
On Tuesday, the warmest day of the entire competition, Peter had his 10M Air Pistol match and, despite the close attentions of the Irish fan club (including Kevin Kilty - chair of the ISSF Coaching Committee), he pulled off his best score of 567 in an international competition and surpassed the MQS for this event. Later in the day Ray competed in the elimination phase of the three position match with 40 shots prone, followed by 40 shots standing and kneeling. His score of 1124 was not enough to get him into the qualification stage and this closed our participation in the overall competitions.
Back again on Wednesday, as spectators this time, to watch a ding-dong Women's air pistol final and an excellent men's 50M 3P final in the fantastic indoor facility in the Munich 1972 Olympic shooting complex.
I want to thank our brilliant competitors for their performances on this world stage and a special thanks to Rob Stubbs, Dave Franklin and Aisling Miller who wore the Irish team shirts and ensured that all the shooters and their gear got to the line on time and a final thanks to the contingent from DURC and from DRC who were there to cheer on the Irish efforts - your presence was duly noted by ISSF oficials and greatly appreciated by the competitors!
Photo Gallery Munich - copyright Joe Kinane / NTSA 2011
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