The CZ Shooting Team achieves impressive results at the 2023 IPSC European Handgun Championship
Shooters wearing CZ colors in Greece dominated all of the main IPSC divisions, securing a total of nine medals – six gold, two silver, and one bronze from the individual competitions – together with six European Champion titles and eight victories in worldwide rankings (IPSC President’s Medal)!
From 24 to 30 September 2023, the 2023 European Handgun Championship was held in Corinth, Greece, under the banner of the 2023 European Handgun Championship, a European IPSC Practical Shooting Championship event. In an extremely tough competition of the best shooters from all around the world, members of CZ Shooting Team, which is the international team of the Ceska zbrojovka factory, excelled with CZ pistols in hand.
This year's European Championship took place at a shooting range in Corinth, Greece, where 24 demanding shooting stages were prepared for a total of 1,319 shooters from 63 countries. Members of the CZ Shooting Team arrived well-prepared and overcame all of these difficult challenges, achieving excellent results.
The OPEN division was dominated by Robin Sebo who, thanks to a fantastic performance, shot gold and won the title of European Champion. Miroslav Havlicek placed third in the European ranking. Martina Sera won a silver medal in the Lady category.
All three of these shooters shot with CZ 75 TS CZECHMATE pistols.
Another gold medal for the CZ Shooting Team was won by Martin Kamenicek in the PRODUCTION OPTICS division, who defended his European Champion title from 2019. He won using the CZ SHADOW 2 OR pistol.
The PRODUCTION division was dominated by Frenchman Eric Grauffel, who became a ten-time European Champion. Third place in the overall ranking went to Argentinian shooter, and member of the CZ Shooting Team, German Romitelli. Portugal's Miguel Ramos in fifth place and Argentina's Gaston Quindi Vallerga in sixth place also had impressive performances.
However, the list of achievements in the PRODUCTION division by the CZ Shooting Team is far from over. A gold medal and the title of European Champion was also won by Serbian Ljubisa Momcilovic in the Senior category, as well as the newest member of the CZ Shooting Team, Camilla Almici from Italy, in the Lady category. In the Junior category, Juan Pablo Duran of Argentina, who is another member of the CZ factory team, took first place and was awarded the President's Medal for his excellent performance. (IPSC President’s Medals are awarded to top shooters in the worldwide rankings)
Interestingly, the European championship was also attended by the young novice French shooter Robin Grauffel, who is son of the phenomenal Eric Grauffel. He won a gold medal in the PRODUCTION division in the Super Junior category and secured his first European Championship title.
The use of CZ SHADOW 2 ORANGE pistols was instrumental in helping these competitors achieve their impressive results in the PRODUCTION division.
CZ Shooting Team members were also very successful in the STANDARD division. The overall winner, who was awarded a President’s Medal, was Filipino Kahlil Adrian Viray. He had a fantastic performance and beat the second place competitor in the standings by an incredible 177 points! In the European ranking, Josef Rakusan took silver, finishing fourth overall, followed by Zdenek Liehne in sixth place and Petr Znamenacek in seventh.
All of these competitors shot CZ TS 2 ORANGE pistols in this championship competition.
The Czech team had a record participation of almost 50 shooters across all age categories. Overall, Czech shooters took home 25 medals (8 gold, 4 President’s, 7 silver and 6 bronze) from all individual and team events at this year's IPSC European Shooting Championship. In the overall ranking of countries in the number of medals won, the Czech team finished just behind Italy and became the second most successful country of the championship.
As the main sponsor of the 2023 European Handgun Championship, CZ would like to express their thanks for the excellent organization of the competition, congratulate the winners and wish members of the CZ Shooting Team, and all other CZ firearm users, lots of success in future competitions.
Results of the championship – Individual:
OPEN division, Overall category
1. Robin Sebo (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 100 %
2. Mikell Aaron Eddins (USA) 98,12 %
3. Marcin Tausiewicz (POL) 96,43 %
4. Miroslav Havlicek (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 94,45 %
OPEN division, Lady category
1. Denny Rossetto (ITA)
2. Martina Sera (CZE), CZ Shooting Team
PRODUCTION OPTICS division, Overall category
1. Martin Kamenicek (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 100 %
2. John Gino Edcel (PHI) 99,92 %
3. Emile Obriot (FRA) 98,97 %
4. Dylan Keppel (NED) 97,74 %
7. Andrej Hrnciarik (SVK), CZ Shooting Team 93,54 %
PRODUCTION division, Overall category
1. Eric Grauffel (FRA), CZ Shooting Team 100 %
2. Michal Stepan (CZE) 97,35 %
3. German Romitelli (ARG), CZ Shooting Team 93,36 %
4. Eduardo de Cobos Abreu (ESP) 93,13 %
5. Miguel Ramos (POR), CZ Shooting Team 92,98 %
6. Gaston Quindi Vallerga (ARG), CZ Shooting Team 92,80 %
PRODUCTION division, Senior category
1. Ljubisa Momcilovic (SER), CZ Shooting Team
PRODUCTION division, Lady category
1. Camilla Almici (ITA), CZ Shooting Team
PRODUCTION division, Junior category
1. Juan Pablo Duran (ARG), CZ Shooting Team
PRODUCTION division, Super Junior category
1. Robin Grauffel (FRA), CZ Shooting Team
STANDARD division, Overall category
1. Kahlil Adrian Viray (PHI), CZ Shooting Team 100 %
2. Rolly Nathaniel Tecson (PHI) 92,14 %
3. Giacomo Bolzoni (ITA) 90,46 %
4. Josef Rakusan (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 87,42 %
5. Daniele Antoniotti (ITA) 84,01 %
6. Zdenek Liehne (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 83,82 %
7. Petr Znamenacek (CZE), CZ Shooting Team 83,04 %
Results of the championship – Teams (representation of the Czech Republic):
OPEN division, Overall category
1. Czech Republic – Robin Sebo, Marek Neumann, Miroslav Havlicek, Petr Samek
2. Poland
3. Sweden
OPEN division, Lady category
1. Czech Republic – Martin Sera, Lenka Horejsi, Natalie Novotna, Katerina Sustrova
2. Italy
3. Austria
PRODUCTION OPTICS division, Overall category
1. Czech Republic – Martin Kamenicek, Miroslav Zapletal, Petr Pijacek, Radim Maderanek
2. Sweden
3. France
PRODUCTION division, Overall category
1. Spain
2. Serbia
3. Czech Republic – Michal Stepan, Ladislav Hanzlicek, Stepan Tomolya, Karel Kadlcik
PRODUCTION division, Senior category
1. Italy
2. Czech Republic – Roman Sedy, Vaclav Vinduska, Zdenek Nemecek
3. Greece
STANDARD division, Overall category
1. Czech Republic – Josef Rakusan, Zdenek Liehne, Petr Znamenacek, Martin Krejci
2. Italy
3. Greece
CLASSIC division, Overall category
1. Italy
2. Czech Republic - Jakub Marx, Jakub Kala and Petr Smutny
3. PolandDivize OPEN Overall
Robin Sebo (CZE)
Martin Kamenicek (CZE)
Eric Grauffel (FRA)
Ljubisa Momcilovic (SER)
Camilla Almici (ITA)
Kahlil Adrian Viray (PHI)
Awards Ceremony
CZ Shooting Team