ORANGE can now boast having a full Australian team from the city, with pistol shooter Dean Brus and Dave Oates making up the Australian team for the Tirol WA1500 Match Open in Austria.
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The Australia team is made up of two representatives and the Orange pair vowed months ago that they would wear the green and gold together.
“Our goal was, quite a while back, to try and achieve the team,” Brus said.
“We knew it was a two-man team and we thought it would be pretty unique to have training mates and (being) from one city/one club sort of thing.”
The pair will head to Austria in October for the tournament and in the time leading up to the event they will need to try and adjust to shooting indoors.
Competitions in Australia are held outdoors so the conditions inside in Austria will be quite different to what they experience here.
“The hardest thing is the range conditions because we shoot out in the open here and over there it is all under cover, they are all indoor ranges,” Oates said.
“It’s something you just can’t simulate, so that will be something different.
“Deano shot at one (overseas) last year so at least we’ve got an advantage that he knows what the conditions are like.”
Brus added: “It’s like shooting in my indoor range down here, I’ve got an air circulation system happening but it was very primitive over there.
“As you progressed into the match it got more hazy, harder to get a sight picture and to find exactly where your aiming point is. It’s difficult.”
But one thing in the pair’s favour is they are training partners and this will be a benefit in the teams event.
The pair travel around the country competing at different shoots, so they are familiar with each other’s style and not shy from giving the other advice.
“There was 50-odd teams there last year in the international teams event and I’m sure a lot of those were just buddy up for the day sort of things,” Brus said.
“We’ve got no secrets between us and if I see something that might be advantageous for Dave, I don’t hesitate in saying so and vice-versa.”
The Orange duo will shoot at the NSW and Victoria State Titles in the lead-up to the event, which they will attend with the support of First Choice Credit Union.