Filipina rules world shootfest

National team mainstay Kaye Cabalatungan of the Gun Club of Negros Occidental copped the ladies title of the 13th World Shoot Championship held Sept. 16-21 in Pietersburg, South Africa.

The 21-year-old Negrense, sponsored in her first international tournament by San Miguel Corp., nipped teammate Athena Lee by 11 points on the final day of the 35-stage, five-day shootfest to capture her first world crown.

"I didn’t focus on the standings anymore going into the last few days of the competition, but just concentrated on my game," Cabalatungan, a marketing graduate from La Salle Bacolod.

Cabalatungan’s record, combined with the output of 12th World Shoot Championship titlist Lee, now based in the US, and Grace Tan from Manila who ended eighth place, enabled the Philippines to capture the ladies team title in this premier event of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC).

Amanda Kangleon of Ormoc City round out the four-woman team in the practical shooting championship wherein 54 countries have been invited to participate.

Host South Africa captured second place while the US clinched third spot in the team competition. Other countries represented in the tournament included Russia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Ecuador.

Cabalatungan, a perennial champion in local competitions, is the winner of the National Steel Challenge Championship held in Marikina recently. She has been a member of the Philippine practical shooting team for the past two years.

The World Shoot Championship is organized every three years by the IPSC which was founded in 1976 to develop practical marksmanship as a sport promoting accuracy, power and speed into a winning combination as competitors shoot various targets in different shooting stages or environment. The IPSC promotes practical shooting in more than 60 countries from Argentina to Zimbabwe.