New Zealand reveal shooting World Cup team

“This is a small but quality team and one that is full of experience."

Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) has announced their team to compete at 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup events in Poland (18-21 April) and Turkey (12-15 May).

The small but strong team will be led by London 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist Michael Johnson, who is known as one of the best to have competed at a Paralympic level. He has competed, and won medals, at three Paralympic Games.

He has set his targets for both IPC Shooting World Cup events in Szczecin, Poland, and Antalya, Turkey, and said: “I know these will be challenging events with the high level of competition from around the world however I am aiming to win two medals across both World Cup events.”

Michael will be joined by Phillip Skinner making his international debut at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Antalya. Skinner has competed and won numerous medals at national shooting para-sport events after taking up the sport four years ago. In the future he has aspirations to represent New Zealand at a World Championships however for now his focus is on the World Cup event in May.

Malcolm Humm, PNZ High Performance Director, said, “This is a small but quality team and one that is full of experience. Michael Johnson is a world leader in shooting para-sport having medalled at the last three Paralympic Games.

“This is key preparation event for him leading into the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. It provides a great opportunity for Michael to add to his finals experience which will be critical to winning gold next year.

“For Philip it is a great opportunity for him to benchmark himself against the best in the world and learn about what it takes to compete at the top.”

The first IPC Shooting World Cup of 2015 gets underway in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, on Monday (30 March).

Live results for all World Cups can be found at IPC Shooting’s website.