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Sanderson Wins Quota at the ISSF World Cup Changwon

Keith Sanderson won the first 2012 Olympic Men's Rapid Fire quota for the USA. Photo courtesy of Marco Dalla Dea, © 2011 ISSF

USA Shooting

FORT BENNING, GA --(Ammoland.com)- Sergeant First Class Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) of the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program set the silver standard at the 2011 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in Changwon, Korea.

Sanderson shot 581 qualification points to earn a spot in the final. Outlasting the competition, Sanderson and the Czech Republic’s Martin Podhrasky were left in a duel for the gold medal. Podhrasky scored 32 points to Sanderson’s 28 points for the gold.

Sanderson, however, not only won the silver medal but the first Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol quota for the USA. Spain’s Jorge Llames surprised the crowd with a solid finish of 20 points for the bronze medal and quota for the Spanish federation.

The USA Shooting Team’s Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Fla.) finished in eighteenth place with 575 qualification points. Corporal Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Pa.) fired 582 qualification points and would have led the way into the final, but was disqualified due to a failed ammunition velocity test.

The USA protested the decision and it was determined that the chronograph (the machine used to test ammunition velocity) used was faulty. Balsley re-tested and passed on a second chronograph. Another federation, however, protested the second decision and the ISSF Jury of Appeals overturned the decision, preventing Balsley from shooting in the final.

For all scores and results, please visit the ISSF Website.

ELEYELEY is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol Teams: ELEY Limited, manufacturer of the world’s most consistently accurate rimfire ammunition, has been the Official Sponsor and Official Supplier of .22 rimfire ammunition of the USA Shooting rifle and pistol teams since 2000. For more information on ELEY and their products, please visit www.eley.co.uk.

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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USA Shooting Announces Keith Sanderson and Kim Rhode as 2009 Athletes of the Year
By Mary Beth Vorwerk – USA Shooting

USA Shooting

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –-(AmmoLand.com)- USA Shooting is pleased to announce that pistol shooter Keith Sanderson (San Antonio, Texas) and shotgun shooter Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) have been selected as the 2009 USAS Athletes of the Year.

These athletes were chosen based on the USAS Athlete of the Year Nomination and Selection Procedure, which is a points system that rewards performance in major competitions.

Sanderson, a 2008 Olympian, earned the Male Athlete of the Year honor after an outstanding World Cup season in 2009, winning an unprecedented three medals on the ISSF World Cup circuit. Sanderson captured the gold at the Beijing World Cup, silver in Changwon, Korea and bronze at the World Cup Munich in the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. Sanderson also grabbed fifth place at the Milan World Cup. In addition, Sanderson finished in third place at the 2009 Rifle/Pistol Fall Selection Match at Fort Benning, Ga.

For the third consecutive year, four-time Olympian Rhode was selected as the USA Shooting Female Athlete of the Year. A four-time Olympic medalist, Rhode shot her way to two World Cup medals this year, claiming the silver in San Marino and the bronze in Munich in the Women’s Skeet event. Rhode was also the 2009 National Champion and finished in first place at the 2009 Shotgun Fall Selection Match, earning a spot on the 2010 World Shooting Championship team. Rhode also finished seventh at the 2009 Shotgun World Championships.

Sanderson and Rhode were selected as the overall USAS Athletes of the Year, but USAS also recognizes the Discipline Athletes of the Year, who earned the highest number of points in each discipline.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis.) was the top male athlete for rifle, while Jamie Beyerle (Lebanon, Pa.) won the honor for women’s rifle for the fourth year in a row, and USAMU member Josh Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.) had the highest number of points for men’s shotgun. Sanderson is also the Male Athlete of the Year for pistol and Rhode is the Female the Athlete of the Year for the shotgun discipline. A female pistol shooter was not chosen this year as there were no female pistol shooters who met the minimum point requirement.

McPhail had an excellent year in the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle event, capturing two bronze medals on the World Cup circuit, as well as the silver medal at the World Cup Final. McPhail also finished in fifth place at the World Cup Changwon and was the 2009 National Champion in Men’s Prone.

Beyerle, a 2008 Olympian, won the 2009 World Cup Final bronze medal in Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle. She finished fourth at the World Cup in Milan and was the 2009 National Champion. She also claimed second place at the Rifle/Pistol Fall Selection Match.

Richmond captured the gold medal in the Men’s Double Trap event at the 2009 World Cup in Munich, Germany. He took home the bronze at the San Marino World Cup and finished fifth at the World Cup in Minsk. Richmond was also the 2009 National Champion and finished fourth at the Shotgun World Championships. Most recently, Richmond won the 2009 Shotgun Fall Selection Match, claiming a spot on the 2010 World Shooting Championship team.

The overall athletes of the year will be submitted to the U.S. Olympic Committee for consideration for the 2009 USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year awards, which have been presented annually since 1974 to the top overall male and female athletes within the U.S. Olympic Family.

For more information on these athletes, please visit www.usashooting.org.

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