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Rhode and Craft Bring Home the Bronze Medals at World Clay Championship

USA Shooting

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --(Ammoland.com)- The American women once again found the podium at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Clay Target Championship in Belgrade, Serbia.

Internationally known Women’s Skeet magician Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) shot 72 match targets to tie four other shooters for only three spots in the final. Relying on decades of experience (four Olympic medals to be exact) Rhode didn’t break a sweat as she sailed into the final with four shoot-off targets. She was joined by Katiuscia Spada of Italy and Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand.

Kim Rhode is a four-time Olympic medalist looking to put her name in the history books with five individual medals in five Olympic Games.

Rhode, the 2010 World Champion, continued on the path to success with the highest final of 25 targets for 97 out of 100 total targets to tie China’s Wei Ning. Ning and Rhode battled it out for the silver and bronze medals in an eight target shoot-off. Ning finished with eight targets for the silver medal and Rhode won the bronze medal with seven targets. Rhode said, “It is an honor to represent the USA and bring home a medal.

This was a great test of my skills against the competition that I will face in London and my goal of five medals in five Olympic Games.

” National Shotgun Coach Bret Erickson commented, “Kim established herself as a front runner for the 2012 Olympic Games with a solid third place performance against outstanding competition.”

The gold medalist was Germany’s Christine Wenzel with 98 total targets (74+24). Olympic Training Center Resident Athletes Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, Wash.) finished in eleventh place with 71 targets and teammate Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) shot 65 targets.

Young Morgan Craft (Hughesville, Pa.) shot 68 out of 75 match targets to tie with Lucie Anastassiou of France for the silver and bronze medals. Craft shot one target to Anastassiou’s two targets in the shoot-off to claim the bronze medal for the red, white and blue.

Craft, a freshman at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Mo., was elated to receive the bronze medal as she said, “All the time, sweat and dedication put into my training this summer more than paid off when the bronze medal was placed around my neck on the podium while representing the USA.”

Her successful finish was even sweeter as this Championship was Craft’s first overseas trip. Erickson was proud of the junior team’s tenacity and development as he said, “I’m impressed with our junior team’s performance. Morgan had a terrific day and should be proud of her first international medal. These young athletes are the foundation for success in the future.”

Teammates Brandy Drozd (Bryan, Texas) finished in fourth place with 67 targets and Riley Moody (Collinsville, Okla.) shot 58 targets for eighteenth place. With strong shooting from all three athletes, the Women’s Junior Team claimed the team bronze medal. For complete results, please visit the ISSF website or the ISSF YouTube Channel for finals footage.

Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester® Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USAShooting Shotgun Team since 1999. Members of the 2008 shotgun team brought home four medals from Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting conservation, hunter education and our country’s proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visit www.winchester.com.

Dallas Safari Club
Dallas Safari Club (DSC) is a proud sponsor of USA Shooting’s Junior Team to the World Shooting Championship Team in Belgrade, Serbia. An independent organization since 1982, DSC has become an international leader in conserving wildlife and wilderness lands, educating youth and the general public, and promoting and protecting the rights and interests of hunters worldwide. For more information on DSC visit www.biggame.org.

About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web at www.usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.

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Otis Pro Staff Shooters are Of Olympic Caliber

Otis Technology Gun Care

Lyons Falls, NY --(Ammoland.com)- This has been an exciting year for Otis Technology sponsored female Olympians.

Otis Technology is proud to endorse America’s most decorated female Olympic shooter, four-time- Olympic medalist Kim Rhode as well as 2006 and 2010 USA Olympians, Tracy and Lanny Barnes.

Recently, Kim won her 14th national championship and second straight in international skeet with a total score of 265/275 in Colorado Springs. This win also qualified her for the Pan-Am Games Team. In late March, she won the Gold at the ISSF Sydney World Cup and clinched the 2012 USA Olympic spot as the first member of the USA Shooting Team to meet and exceed the point threshold for Women’s Skeet.

According to Rhode, “When a competition is won or lost by one target, or you only get one shot at that

‘once in a lifetime buck’, it is truly important that your barrels and action are clean. You don’t get a second chance. That’s why I always clean my guns thoroughly before hunting or a competition. I found that not only does it stop the possibility of a jamming problem but by having a clean barrel and chokes you have the ultimate pattern for your best performance.”

As the excitement spreads, Otis is looking forward to being a part of history as Rhode looks to achieve an Olympic record as the first USA Olympian in any sport to medal in 5 consecutive Olympics.

“I’m training and doing everything that I can to bring home another Olympic medal. My hope is this could bring shooting to the forefront of the Olympic games,” states Rhode, “2012 here we come thanks to support from companies like Otis.”

Just as Rhode has been nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team, Tracy Barnes has been crowned best Biathlon shooter in the World at the Veltins World Team Challenge event in Germany as she beat the very best biathletes in the world in the shootout of biathlon’s premier co-ed event. Meanwhile, at the Sprint race at the US Nationals in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Lanny and Tracy placed 3 rd and 4 th , respectively. In the Pursuit, Tracy battled her way back up the ranks to finish 2nd, while Lanny stayed in 3rd place for the second race and the last day of nationals brought a 3rd place finish for Tracy and a 4 th place finish for Lanny.

Tracy and Lanny are also training hard to make sure they are ready to bring home the gold in the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

“We brought our shooting to a whole new level this year. I think a lot of it has to do with being confident and being able to rely on our equipment because of Otis. It gets us excited about the possibility of winning a medal at the Olympics in Russia,” says Lanny Barnes. Tracy adds, “Otis has been instrumental in our shooting success at the international level. I was able to win in front of 50,000 screaming German fans because I trusted my equipment with Otis’ advanced technology. I can’t wait until next season.”

Kim, Tracy and Lanny and other Otis Pro Staff members recently came together to film Otis’ new television commercial with Tahoe Films. Watch the new commercial at www.otistec.com or on one of the industry television networks. The Otis Pro Staff team is rounded out by Xtreme Sports Shooter and 8 time World record holder, Patrick Flanigan; The world’s best all around shooter and host of Doug Koenig’s Championship Season TV, Doug Koenig; UFC Hall of Famer and 9 time welterweight Champion as well as host of Texas Trophy Hunters TV, Matt Hughes; and country entertainer and host of 3 Gun Nation TV, Mark Wills.

Otis Technology is known for manufacturing the most advanced gun cleaning systems available. The superior Breech-to-Muzzle® design combined with unmatched quality has positioned Otis as the gun care system of choice with the US military

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