IPC World Cup Update
Tagliapietra Wins Bronze in Germany; Team Heads to Croatia on Quota Hunt
Mike Tagliapietra (Fond
du Lac, Wisconsin) earned a bronze medal at the Interna- tional Shooting Competition in Hanover, Germany against 35 other competitors in P3 (Mixed 25m Sport Pistol). Tagliapietra would shoot the second-best Qualifi ca- tion score of 569, but would have to settle for bronze be- hind two Chinese athletes. The medal comes in the same event that Tagliapietra earned a Paralympic Games quota during the 2014 Inter- national Paralympic Com- mittee (IPC) World Champi- onships when he fi nished in eighth place. Tagliapietra is one fi ve
U.S. athletes who compet- ed along with rifl e athletes McKenna Dahl (Arlington, Washington), John Joss (US- AMU/Corsicana, Texas) and pistol athletes Len Esparza (Cupertino, California) and Shaun Tichenor (USAMU/ Brainerd, Minnesota). Joss just missed making Finals in the R6 (50m Mixed Prone Rifl e) event, fi nishing 2.7 points out in tricky wind con- ditions.
IPC World Cup Croatia Preview
The season continues for the USA Shooting team at the next IPC World Cup in Osijek, Croatia July 10 – 14. Athletes competing in Croa- tia include Dahl, Tagliapi- etra, Tichenor, rifl e athletes
Robert Beach (Dresden, Ohio) and Israel Del Toro (Cibolo, Texas), pistol athlete Kerry Morris (Grand Prairie, Texas) and newcom- ers Tricia Downing (Denver, Colorado) and Pedro Aquino (Hawthorne, California). Downing isn’t a newcom-
er to elite adaptive athletics as she has competed inter- nationally in triathlons and rowing prior to shooting. She will be shooting pistol in P2 (Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1) and P3. Aquino will make his
World Cup debut as well in Croatia. A U.S. Ma- rine Corp veteran and multi- medal winner in the Warrior Games – includ- ing gold in 2014 in Prone Rifl e – Aquino will compete against Dahl in both Rifl e SH2 events: R4 (Mixed 10m Air Rifl e Standing) and R5 (Mixed 10m Air Rifl e Prone). This World Cup will
be the fi rst time since World Championships in which athletes will have the opportunity to earn quota places for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A quota is essentially a country’s ticket to compete in the Games. Already having claimed quota places are Dahl and Tagliapietra, who are looking to add to their valuable competition experience in Croatia. While the individuals themselves
20 USA Shooting News | July 2015
USA Shooting Team athletes in Hanover: (left to right, back) Len Esparza, National Paralympic Coach Bob Foth, John Joss, Shaun Tichenor, (front row) McKenna Dahl and Mike Tagliapietra. Photo courtesy of McKenna Dahl.
haven’t qualifi ed yet for Rio, the quota spots help in the ongoing process of building depth in the USA Shoot- ing Paralympic program that began after the 2008 Paralympic Games and had just two qualifi ers in 2012. The two earned quota spots are in events not contested in 2012 by U.S. Paralympic Team members. In addition to Croatia,
quotas will also be up for grabs at the World Cups in Sydney, Australia in Sep- tember and Fort Benning, Georgia in November.
“This is the fi rst match
for a quota slot this year,” Tichenor said. “The key is to not put this match on a pedestal and rely on our process to be successful.”
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