The past few days were truly demanding for shooters from the shooting programme of Česká Zbrojovka. Members of the factory team began in Opařany on Thursday at the Czech Championship and ended on the Greek island of Rhodes by participating in the "Hellenic National Championship." However, it was important to participate in both competitions – the national one, because it concerned a national championship, and the one in Greece, because Rhodes will be the venue for the World Championship in Practical Pistol Shooting held in October 2011. Thus it was important not to leave anything to chance and “test out” the environment in which CZUB shooters will shoot for world titles. Moreover, to compare themselves with the best shooters in the world, who came to Rhodes with the same objective as the team of Česká Zbrojovka.
Opařany was the first place where shooters from Uherský Brod’s arms factory took part in completing a competition in one day, which the other participants took three days to shoot. The weather was not on the side of CZUB shooters, when it rained for almost the entire day. However, they managed to shoot all 20 shooting disciplines. Nevertheless, the shooters of Česká Zbrojovka from Uherský Brod were successful since they won all of the titles of the divisions they participated in.
Martin Kameníček won the Open Division (2nd place Robin Šebo, 3rd place Petr Pijáček), MUDr. Miroslav Kameníček was first in the Senior category of this division. Petr Znamenáček beat Zdeňek Liehne in the Standard Division. Miroslav Zapletal won 1st place in the Production Division, followed by Marian Vyšný. First place in the Modified Division went to Zdeněk Heneš.
Unfortunately, the journey to Rhodes Island was complicated by an incident with the Spanish captain of the airplane who, regardless of all permits, ordered to unload all of the shooting team’s ammunition. Thus, the team had no choice but to purchase commercial ammunition from the competition’s organiser on site. The results then confirmed that CZUB Team shooters and weapons of Česká Zbrojovka managed to do well even with the ammunition purchased on Rhodes. The only disadvantage was that it did not achieve the performance efficiency necessary for evaluation in the higher score table. This put CZUB shooters at a disadvantage, especially compared to other stars of the shooting world who participated in the event, such as Frenchmen Eric Grauffel, American Miguel Blake or Max Michael and others. Shooters of Uherský Brod’s arms factory had no choice but to bite themselves and do their best with what they have. The results attained are very good with consideration to the circumstances.
Martin Kameníček won third place in the Open Division, behind two of the best shooters in the world, Eric Grauffel (France) and Max Michael (USA). And if Kameníček had had his own ammunition, he would certainly have beat Max Michael. In this division, Robin Šebo came in fifth and Petr Pijáček eighth. MUDr. Miroslav Kameníček finished tight in second place in the Senior category of this division. Nevertheless, the CZ Shooting Team won the gold medal in team competition in the Open Division.
The excellent performance of Česká Zbrojovka’s shooters in the Standard Division, literally scared American Blake. Miguel Blake, this year’s best shooter in the world in the Standard Division, won ahead of Zdeňek Liehne and Petr Znamenáček. Liehne, Znamenáček and member of the CZ Alliance Russia Team Kuzněcov, then won in team competition and thus received the gold medal.
Second place in the Production division went to Alexej Pičugin of the CZ Alliance Russia Team. Uherský Brod’s shooter Miroslav Zapletal came in fourth and Andrej Hrnčiarik won the Junior category of this division. Considering that Marian Vyšný was disqualified from the championship, the CZ Shooting Team only won a bronze medal in the team competition in the Production division.
For more information, contact CZ Shooting Team Manager:
Milan TRKULJA
E-mail: trkulja@czub.cz
