Members of the CZ Shooting Team achieved superb results at the 10th CZ Extreme Euro Open which took place between 18 and 24 June at the shooting range in Hodonice near Znojmo. This event is one of the most important and also most challenging shooting competitions, with the largest number of participants from all over the world. This year, there were 1,128 shooters from 51 countries.
The CZ Extreme Euro Open is a Level III IPSC competition. This year’s contest was very well prepared. There were 30 interesting though challenging shooting stations. The competitors were able to shoot while moving, really savoring each of the stations. However, we are not able to control the weather just yet, so over the six days, everyone experienced a whole range of the elements, from hot rays of sunshine to clouds, wind and drops in temperature.
The PRODUCTION Division saw a very dramatic and very close duel between two members of the CZ Shooting Team, Ljubiša Momčilovič and Robin Šebo. Ljubiša missed just one target during the whole competition and scored one hit in the Delta zone. Robin went through the competition with no minus points but scored more Deltas. In the overall score, Ljubiša therefore beat Robin by a margin of less than 1% and won the gold medal. Another fantastic result in the Production Division was achieved by Michal Štěpán who came in fourth place. In this division, all shooters from the CZ Shooting Team used the CZ Shadow 2 model.
The STANDARD Division was no less successful for the CZ Shooting Team, as Josef Rakušan and Zdeněk Liehne also swept into the lead, winning first and second places with their CZ 75 TS Orange pistols.
In the OPEN Division, Miroslav Havlíček took the silver medal, losing out to the reigning World Champion, Jorge Ballesteros. Martina Šerá dominated the Open Division Lady category and returned home with a well-deserved gold medal. In the Open Division, the CZ Shooting Team members used the CZ 75 TS Czechmate.
It is a fact of life that even the best cannot always rely on things going smoothly, as Maria Gushchina could tell you. In this event, she was shooting in the Open Division but at station 12 she accidentally tripped and was subsequently disqualified for breaking the limit of the safety angle. One feels sorry for that but such things happen at times. At least Maria thus enabled her rivals in the Production Division to have a chance of winning, since she usually leaves the others well behind.
In teams, the first places in the Production Division went to the following CZ factory shooters: Momčilovič, Šebo and Štěpán, in the Standard Division to: Rakušan, Liehne, Znamenáček and Sioda (a Polish member of the CZ Shooting Team).
As is the tradition, the Sunday was reserved for the Super Six finale and the awards ceremony. The best shooters on the planet battled against each other in a riveting duel, witnessed not only by many of their fellow participants but also by scores of fans.
As a long-time partner and main sponsor of the CZ Extreme Euro Open, Česká zbrojovka a.s. would like to say a huge thank you to the organizers and the referees for their excellent hard work. Many thanks also go to all the shooters that have taken part in this event over the past ten years. Moreover, we would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to the winners and wish them the best success in the other upcoming events.
