COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (April 19, 2019)
The last wave of young shooting talent in the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) will descend on the Olympic Shooting Center starting tomorrow as the Pistol and Paralympic Rifle competition begins, wrapping up the three-week long competition.
Not only have the 607 Rifle and Pistol athletes who earned invitations to the NJOSC from the 48 state-level competitions competed (and will continue to compete) for medals and National Junior Team appointments, they’re also vying for the chance to represent the United States at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup later this summer in Suhl, Germany. More than 160 Pistol and Paralympic Rifle athletes are slated to compete in this week’s competition.
With the ISSF World Cup in Beijing, China starting next week, many of the perennial favorites in the Pistol field such as Jackson and Henry Leverett (Bainbridge, Georgia) Katelyn Abeln (Douglasville, Georgia) and Hunter Battig (Colorado Springs, Colorado) on their way to China to compete against the world’s best, leaving the NJOSC podium potential more open than ever for a new crop of shooting talent.
Last year’s Women’s Sport and Air Pistol champion Sarah Choe (Los Angeles, California), however, will look to defend her titles in both of these events in Colorado Springs. She was the state champion in California in both events as well. She posted the top Qualification score in both events (including a Women’s Air Pistol score of 567), and her Women’s Sport Pistol Qualification score of 574 would have put her in the Final at last year’s World Championship.
Though her brothers are competing in China, last year’s Women’s Sport Pistol bronze medalist Abbie Leverett (Bainbridge, Georgia) will return to
