Many of the world’s top shooters gathered in Budapest, Hungary, for the Masped Cup, with SASI athletes Dane Sampson and Jack Rossiter representing Australia in excellent fashion.

After posting a score of 626.1 in the qualifying round of the Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Sampson shot an average of 10.4 over his 22 total attempts in the final, finishing with a bronze medal.

“The qualification was tough, and I had to work pretty hard… and I had to work through a bit of a struggle, which is good preparation for World Champs,” Sampson said.

“The final was good, and I started off great… it was close at the end, but third place is still great for an international competition.”
Rossiter also qualified in the 10m Air Rifle final with a score of 631.2, posting 165.5 in the final to finish in 6th place.

Both Sampson and Rossiter also competed in the 50m Rifle 3 Position and 50m Rifle Prone events.

The Masped Cup provided a great opportunity for both athletes to get their eye in ahead of the World Championships in, Baku, Azerbaijan.

“It is always great to be in this environment with the [athletes] we will be competing with at World Champs… it’s a nice build up in a space that you can really just focus on the sport,” Samspon said.

At the World Championships Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Rossiter finished in 19th place with a total of 628.2 while Sampson got a total of 628.0 to finish in 21st place. The Top 8 qualified for the final with a cut-off of 629.3.

Well done to both Jack and Dane for a fantastic effort amidst strong competition.