The following is being distributed at the request of Sport Newfoundland and Labrador:

St. John’s Native Ben Taylor Completes His First World Cup

Ben Taylor finished his first ISSF World Cup competition this morning in Munich, Germany. Ben fired 575 out of 600 in the Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) group. This score exceeded the MQS of 570, earning him the right to compete for the World Cup in future competitions. Typically shooters who are new to the World Cup circuit or have already won quota spots to the Summer Olympics shot the MQS category. The only other Canadian on the line was Cory Neifer of Saskatchewan. Cory fired 592 to place 48th in the World Cup; Cory will be representing Canada in London.

A native of St. John's, Ben Taylor has been shooting for 11 years and competing for four in the sport of air rifle. He is currently the Junior and Senior Provincial Men's Champion. The second year Earth Sciences student trains at the Frank Zahn High Performance Marksmanship facility at Memorial University. His most recent accomplishments include being named Junior Champion and a 3rd place overall finish at the 2012 Canadian Air Gun Grand Prix in Toronto. He also earned a gold medal in Expert class and was part of a junior team which set a new national record at the 2011 Canadian National Smallbore Rifle Championships. In February of 2011, he was named flagbearer for Team NL at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, at which he went on to earn two bronze medals in the team and individual air rifle events.

A member of the Junior National Team, Ben was offered an opportunity to test himself against world class athletes at this event. Of this opportunity, he says, “I'm really excited as this is my first big international event. Many of these athletes are potential Olympians and being offered the opportunity to compete against them in this Olympic year is amazing!”

Provincial shooting athletes have been doing very well as of late with four on the small bore national team, one on the DND national team and two on the full bore national team.

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Media contact:
Dave Woolridge
709-778-0405
dave.woolridge@mi.mun.ca 

2012 05 23                             3:55 p.m.