Abeymanne wins but the younger brood impresses
Young and aspiring shooters from schools impressed at the NSSF National Shooting Championship 2017 held at the Naval Shooting Range in Welisara. While renowned shooters Suranga Fernando and Ruwini Abeymanne pocketed three top categories, the young school-goers proved their might by claiming 15 positions in the top three including wins under four categories.
Olympian shooter Abeymanne, representing Cambrian Shooting Club, won the Women’s 10M Air Pistol and 25M Sport Pistol events while claiming the Mixed 10M Air Pistol event partnering with team mate Suranga Fernando. Abeymanne accumulated 368 points in the 10M Air Pistol event while in the 25M Air Pistol event she plucked-in 548 points to claim the top spot.
Fernando, meanwhile claimed wins in the Men’s 10M Air Pistol and 50M Free Pistol events in addition to the Mixed 10M Air Pistol event with Abeymanne. Representing Cambrian Shooting Club, Fernando won the Men’s 10M Air Pistol event with 576 points, while representing Cambrian SC, he won the 50M Free Pistol event with 521 points.
However, the cynosure eight-day long event were the shooters representing Sri Lanka Schools, who were on par with the much experienced shooters. While dominating the Youth and Junior category by winning three of its four events, as Akila Sithumina, Natasha Hendalage and Amandika Weerasinghe claimed the Men’s 10M Air Pistol, Women’s 10M Air Pistol and Women’s 10M Air Rifle respectively.
The school shooters claimed three of second and third positions while four shooters, two each in Men’s and Women’s category impressed in the main draw. Vidura Pieris and Sashika Perera, both competed in the Men’s 10M Air Rifle event and finished second and third respectively while W.A.Y.C. Dharmadasa topped the Women’s 10M Air Rifle event with Amandika Amarasinghe finishing at second.
“This is a good sign for the future of shooting sports in Sri Lanka. The shooters from schools have impressed this time around at the Nationals than the recent years. It will be a very good foundation in Sri Lanka’s quest for international medals, as we can be rest assure with the talent that the country has got,” stated Pradeep Edirisinghe, the General Secretary of National Shooting Sports Federation (NSSF) of Sri Lanka.
According to the NSSF apart from Point 22 Rifle events had to be called off on the request of the three armed forces — the Army, Navy and Air Force — due to shortage of ammunition. As result the NSSF officials had been flexible enough to abort four events that come under the Point 22 Rifle category, as the three teams would face a disadvantage in the overall count. However the three teams eventually failed to show up as the remaining teams in the shooting sports field made their presence felt.
A total of 13 events were be held under Rifle and Pistol categories of Junior and Youth, Men’s Open and Women’s Open. Even with the absence of three important teams, the NSSF National Shooting Championship 2017 had over 100 high profile shooters from clubs and schools.
Men
10M Air Pistol
1: Suranga Fernando (576/Magnum SC)
2: Gamini Walgama (554/Police)
3: W. Suranga (549/Police)
10M Air Rifle
1: S.M.C.S. Senanayake (613.5/Athugala)
2: Vidura Pieris (588.2/Schools)
3: Sashika Perera (581.7/Schools)
25M Standard Pistol
1: Gamini Walgama (527/Police)
2: Suranga Fernando (523/Cambrian)
3: Sagara Wimaladharma (516/NRC)
50M Free Pistol
1: Suranga Fernando (521/Cambrian)
2: Gamini Walgama (510/Police)
3: Sagara Wimaladharma (481/NRC)
Women
10M Air Pistol
1: Ruwini Abeymanne (368/Cambrian)
2: E.M. Pabawathi (366/Police)
3: A.K.H. Dinusha (350/Police)
10M Air Rifle
1: W.A.Y.C. Dharmadasa (403.7/Schools)
2: Amandika Amarasinghe (397/Schools)
3: Vishmi Amanda (393.8/Schools)
25M Sport Pistol
1: Ruwini Abeymanne (548/Cambrian)
2: E.M. Pabawathi (528/Police)
3: D.H. Dhammika (513/Police)
Youth and Junior
Men’s 10M Air Pistol
1: Akila Sithumina (545/Schools)
2: C.S.B. Wijeratne (544/Schools)
3: M.S.V. Rajapaksha (538/Schools)
Men’s 10M Air Rifle
1: S.M.C.S. Senanayake (606.1/Athugala)
2: Vidura Pieris (604/Schools)
3: Anish Dumbukola (590/Magnum)
Women’s 10M Air Pistol
1: Natasha Hendalage (349/Schools)
2: Maheeshan Jayasundara (337/Schools)
3: Vimoshi Weerasinghe (336/Schools)
Women’s 10M Air Rifle
1: Amandika Weerasinghe (402.7/Schools)
2: Krishnitha Vasudevan (402.1/Magnum)
3: W.A.Y.C. Dharmadasa (400.3/Schools)
Mixed
10M Air Pistol
1: Suranga Fernando/Ruwini Abeymanne (756/Cambrian)
2: Neranjan Dissanayake/Hansani Dinusha (722/Police)
3: Akila Vidanage/Natasha Hendalage (708/Schools)
10M Air Rifle
1: Chanidu Senanayake/Amandika Amarasinghe (467.6)
2: Vidura Pieris/Krishnitha Vasudevan (448.5)
3: Lahiru Dinesh/Nileka de Silva (402.3)