FORT BENNING, Georgia (June 5, 2014) - The USA Shooting Team picked up their first medal of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup today in Fort Benning as Tammy Delano, Josh Budd and John Joss won bronze in the team event of R3 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1).

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) teammates Joss (Corsicana, Texas) and Budd (Fort Benning, Georgia), along with Delano (Rome, New York) comprised the bronze-medal team who earned a combined Qualifying score of 1872.7. While Budd and Delano placed 11th and 12th place respectively, Joss earned a spot in the Finals where he finished in eighth place in the very tightly-contested match.

The gold medal in R3 once again went to Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia, who has claimed gold in all three events she has competed in thus far at this World Cup. Her Finals score of 211.8 is just .1 point shy of a Finals World Record. 2012 Paralympic Games silver medalist Matt Skellhon of Great Britain won silver in the event and Ben Jesson, also of Great Britain, won bronze. The team gold medal went to Slovakia and the team silver to Great Britain.

Joss, Budd and Nick Beach (Dresden, Ohio) will get another chance at a Prone medal Saturday against Vadovicova, Skellhon and Jesson when they compete in the R6 (Mixed 50m Rifle Prone Sh1) event.

Also contested today was P5 (Mixed 10m Air Pistol Standard SH1) in which Joackim Norberg of Sweden picked up his second gold medal of this World Cup. Gyula Gurisatti of Hungary won silver and Bjorn Morten Hagen of Norway won bronze.

On the firing line tomorrow for the U.S. will be the P1 (Men's10m Air Pistol SH1) competitors, including Len Esparza (Cupertino, California) and Rickie Fry (Chesapeake, Virginia) making their World Cup debuts. Also competing will be Jeff Brown (Pueblo, Colorado/USAMU) in his first World Cup, as well as Development Team members Kerry Morris (Grand Prairie, Texas), Mike Tagliapietra (Fon du Lac, Wisconsin) and Shaun Tichenor (Brainerd, Minnesota/USAMU).

For complete results and live scoring from the IPC World Cup in Fort Benning, Georgia, please click here:http://results.sius.com/(X(1)S(2ec2m0wfcetbqyomzkxqx5jm))/Events.aspx?Championship=IPCWCFortBenning201420140603FortBenningUSA.

For photos from today's action, please click here:https://www.flickr.com/photos/usashooting/sets/72157644618570859/.

Follow the action on social media: #IPCWCUSA.

For more information about IPC Shooting or classifications, please visit their website here:http://www.paralympic.org/shooting.

IPC World Championship Qualification

Regarding the World Championship qualifiers we announced late Wednesday including Jazmin Almlie-Ryan (Houston, Texas), Barbaro Ponce (Atlanta, Georgia), Mariah Beckham (Daleville, Alabama) and Jay Rivera (Atlanta, Georgia), it was brought to our attention by the International Paralympic Committee that their qualifying scores unfortunately DID NOT meet the Minimum Qualifying Standards (MQS) necessary for World Championship participation. Administrative errors were made in assuming the necessary MQS standards had remained the same, but have found out since that those standards had been adjusted and modified and USA Shooting was using the incorrect version of those standards. USA Shooting apologizes for the clerical error made, particularly to those athletes involved who have performed well at this World Cup and look to have the opportunity to compete for the USA Shooting Team in the future. USA Shooting is working diligently to try and qualify as many athletes as possible for World Championships. Almlie-Ryan had already earned an MQS slot for R4 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2) at the upcoming World Championships in July 2014.

USA Shooting Athletes having earned an MQS to date in the following events for IPC World Championships:
Jazmin Almlie-Ryan: R4
Josh Budd: R3 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1), R6 (Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1)
McKenna Dahl: R4 and R5 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone Sh2)
Tammy Delano: R2 (Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1), R3
Eric Hollen: P1 (Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1), P4 (Mixed 50m Pistol SH1)
John Joss: R3, R6
Kerry Morris: P3 (Mixed 25m Pistol SH1)
Josh Olson: R3, R6
Mike Tagliapietra: P1, P3, P4
Shaun Tichenor: P1, P4

For more information about MQS required for the IPC World Championships, please click here:http://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/140213150400252_APPENDIX%2B2_v2_1.pdf.

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 visi 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 a www.usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.

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Contact:
Jessica Delos Reyes
719-866-4896
Jessica.delosreyes@usashooting.org
USA Shooting