It was a hot battle for points and hundredths of a second in the internationally renowned seaside resort of Pattaya, in east-central Thailand. The huge, impressive shooting range of the Thai IPSC association THPSA (Thailand Practical Shooting Association) was completely overhauled for the world championship and the 30 stages of the five-day main competition were elaborately and lovingly designed and decorated.
Eric Grauffel: he did it again – IPSC World Champion Production
Frenchman Eric Grauffel, who now runs the EG-CZ Academy in his home country in cooperation with Czech gun manufacturer CZ, continued his incredible and unique success course in IPSC history. The seven-time world champion, who has basically been dominating IPSC shooting since 1990, crowned his career with another world championship title. He claimed his eighth world title with his CZ all-steel pistol in 9mm Luger, this time in the Production division. And he did so with a commanding lead of almost five percent over runner-up, German Romitelli from Argentina. Third place went to junior Aeron John Lanuza from the Philippines. It was much closer in the Open division, for example, in which the starters use Full House Race Guns with high-capacity magazines, red dot sights and compensators. Here, the difference between the first-placed US American Christian Sailer and the second-placed shooter, Edcel John Gino from the Philippines, was just a wafer-thin 0.56 percent.
These are the winners ISPC Handgun World Shoot 2022 in all seven divisions:
Young shooters at the IPSC Handgun World Shoot XIX
In the Standard division (mainly 2011 high capacity pistols in .40 S&W with mechanical sights that have to fit into a box measuring 225x150x45 mm), two Filipino juniors, Adrian Khalil Viray and Nathaniel Rolly Tecson, won 1st and 2nd place respectively. Third place was secured by the U.S. veteran Nils Jonasson.
The same pistol design in the shape of John M. Browning's 1911, only this time with a slim grip instead of a bulky hi-cap grip for single-stack instead of double-stack magazines: this is the tool of the trade in the Classic division. Between the two Filipinos, Emil Jeufro Lejano in first place and Alfredo Catalan Jr. in third place, the Pole Bartosz Szczesny came in second. By the way, the Minor caliber 9mm Luger dominates here. Classical shooting continued with the revolver shooters and the Austrian senior revolver hero Gerald Reiter was able to secure the world championship title, ahead of Sonny Prabowo from Indonesia in 2nd place and Kabin Susiwa from Thailand.
"Service pistols" with red dot sight: the world champions 2022
Interestingly enough, the Carry Optics division, in which striker-fired polymer pistols and mini-red dot sights on the top of the slide are popularly used, is the strongest division of the USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association).
In other countries, it is not quite as widely accepted as the Production Optics Light division, but it certainly has a dedicated fan base. This class has only been introduced on a trial basis so far, with a final decision expected at the IPSC General Assembly in Thailand. However, to the best of our knowledge, this has now been postponed until March 2023.
However, the first (and perhaps last) Production Optics Light World Champion is Xuefeng Cao and the U.S. shooter uses a Walther PDP. The third-placed U.S., highly decorated SIG Sauer team shooter Max Michel Jr. could not live up to his role as favorite because, according to reports, he allowed himself a few "misses" (no evaluable hit on the target) right at the beginning of the world championship.
While light polymer pistols are mostly used in the Production Optics Light division, heavy all-steel pistols such as the CZ Shadow2 OR dominate the Production Optics division. Here, the US Beretta Team shooter Simon Racaza prevailed with his Beretta 92X ahead of Hassana Pollc Wijitpatima from Thailand and Martin Kamenicek from the Czech Republic.
