Franchette Shayne F. Quiroz with her father Ricky at the Mountain Clark Firing Range in Angeles City. Photo courtesy of Ric Gonzales
ANGELES CITY – She’s a lady in a man’s world. At 18 years old, she brought class to her field and glory to her country. She is Franchette Shayne “Tet” F. Quiroz, the Philippines top ranked lady handgun shooter and a true-blooded Kapampangan.
Quiroz placed 5th overall in a field of 1,800 coming from 72 countries during the final round of the International Practical Shooting Confederation’s (IPSC) World Shoot XVII from October 13 to 18. Her Pilipinas Asintado Lady Shooters Team led by herself, former Philippines number one lady shooter Jannette Gonzaga and Mariam Mangudadatu placed third in the same triennial event held at Polk County, Florida, USA.
The Lady Asintados placed third in the Team Standard Lady Division won by the USA and followed by second placer South Africa. It was reported that Quiroz’s high score due to her consistency pulled her team to a respectable third place finish at the end of the six-day shooting competition.
Quiroz would have snatched the bronze medal in the Standard Division Lady Category if her .40 mm caliber handgun did not malfunction during the competition. But despite her predicament, she said she remained focused throughout the competition even if she had to cock her gun after every round.
This caused her to lose valuable time which pulled down her score. “The bullets might have caused my gun to jam because we brought them from the Philippines. The altitude from the plane travel and climate change could have impacted on the gun powder,” she reasoned. But her mother said: “it was her passion that made the difference.”
Her father Ricky, who hails from Apalit, said his daughter could have landed third place because the second placer lost to Franchette at the 2013 Australasian Handgun Championship held in Rotorua, New Zealand where she won a silver medal for her first runner-up finish.
Gloria, her mother from Floridablanca, thanked Jack Enrile, the founder of the Philippine Practical Shooting Association (PPSA), for shouldering the costs of the air fares of the top Filipino shooters for the World Shoot in the USA. She also paid special mention to PPSA president Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat for supporting her daughter.
Franchette is the second in a brood of five girls. She is coached by Rico Papa and practices at least four times a week either at the Mountain Clark Firing Range in Balibago here or at the Jethro Range in Manila.
Franchette was qualified to join the Philippine Team after only a year of training beating top lady shooter Gonzaga who held the championship for two decades, said her father. She also finished first runner- up in the Far East Asia Handgun Championship in Thailand last year.
Franchette is now gearing up for the IPSC World Shoot XVII in France scheduled in 2017.
