DEAN Brus and Dave Oates are already talking about the 2013 World 1500 Championships despite just returning from this year’s competition.
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Australia will host the World Championships, which are held every two years, in 2013 in Perth.
The Orange duo were successful in team and individual events at the 2011 championships in Sweden.
Oates and Tamworth’s Don Pollard were second in the team pistol event while Pollard combined with Brus to claim silver in the team revolver competition.
Brus claimed individual honours when he finished third in the open event where he shot a personal best 594.
Oates just missed out on an individual medal when he finished fourth on a countback in the pistol 1500 event.
Oates shot a personal best 1486 to be tied for third with Pollard and Germany’s Peter Duck.
However, the countback put Duck third, Oates fourth and Pollard fifth.
The Orange shooters had plenty of other top 10 results at the international competition.
Oates was sixth in the open, ninth in the distinguished pistol and 10th in the stock semi-automatic pistol.
Brus also claimed fifth in the service revolver and ninth in the revolver 1500.
Brus said finishing second in the teams events was exciting.
“We were second in the revolver teams by one point,” Brus said.
“The Swedes won. It’s the hardest match to win because the top two shooters from each country compete.
“I shot first. I was happy with the way I shot, especially the last six shots. At the half-way mark in the competition, so after the first shooters, four nations were equal first. After the second shooters Sweden won on 1185 out of 1200 and we were second on 1184.”
The Orange shooters will have the NSW State Championships this weekend and a number of other state events before Christmas.
At Easter next year the national championships will be held where the Australian team for the 2013 world championships will be selected.
Brus and Oates are determined to earn their place in the national side so they can have the chance to compete in the world tournament at home.