NSSF line up 10 local and 11 international meets
View(s):The National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) released its official events calendar for the year 2020 in which 10 local meets and 11 international meets are lined up. The local meets will be mainly held at two venues – the SLNS, Gemunu Range in Welisara and the Shooting Range in Payagala as the 10 local meets will be important for the Lankan shooters, who will be eyeing the ultimate world sporting event – the 32nd Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan during July and August.
Despite being included in its schedule in 2019, the NSSF could not complete its planned Trap and Skeet meets at the Shooting Range in Payagala due to security concerns, following the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. Prior to that, a circular issued by the then Secretary to the Ministry of Defence hampered activities in clay target shooting for few months. Eventually none occurred during the rest of 2019 at Payagala or any other shotgun ranges elsewhere.
But this year, six out of the total 10 local events will be held in Payagala under special permission, as these events will be important for potential Olympians, who earmark the ISSF Championships on the way to the Tokyo Games.
The remaining four local meets will be held at the SLNS, Gemunu Range in Welisara, the only fully fledged Rifle and Pistol Range available in Sri Lanka. The NSSF has constantly made attempts to acquire a plot of land, which was allocated for shooting sports by the Ministry of Sports, but the progress is presently at a standstill despite processing necessary documentation under five different Ministers of Sports appointed in recent years.
The NSSF is keenly looking at having its own national range where all shooting sport disciplines could be conducted at a single venue, with training facilities for shooters who are selected to represent Sri Lanka. Yet, they are forced to hold local meets at venues that are logistically unviable to many and train its national shooters at a makeshift range with the able support of a few keen officials.
In spite of all these setbacks, mainly beyond the control of NSSF, the Sri Lankan shooters bagged two silver medals and five bronze medals out of the tally of 251 at the 13th South Asian Games 2019 held in Nepal, all in team events. The NSSF, according to its general secretary Pradeep Edirisinghe, are keen to conduct events with quality, which will in return help Sri Lanka to gain more honour than in the recent years internationally.
Among the 11 international events, NSSF has picked five that are conducted by the international governing body, the ISSF, four regional events and an Olympic Games Test event, prior to the Tokyo Olympics. Edirisinghe also emphasised that the NSSF will strictly follow the planned schedule on local events, in order to make its efforts in selecting and training shooters for international events more realistic. Already Sri Lanka was represented by a team at the 9th International Shooting Grand Prix in Kuwait, and the NSSF expects a large turnout at its first local event to be held during the last week of May.
| Local Meets March 4th week: NSSF Open Rifle/Pistol Championship at SLNS, Gemunu Range, Welisara April 5-7: CTSC Trap Open Championship at Shooting Range, Payagala May 1-3: NSSF Trap Open Meet at Shooting Range, Payagala May 16 and 17: NSSF Skeet Open Meet at Shooting Range, Payagala June 4-13: NSSF Open Air Gun Championship at SLNS, Gemunu Range, Welisara August: Navy Open Shooting Championship at SLNS, Gemunu Range, Welisara August 28-30: Magnum and Wayamba Trap Open Championship at Shooting Range, Payagala October 10 and 11: NSSF Skeet National Championship at Shooting Range, Payagala October 23-25: NSSF Trap National Championship at Shooting Range, Payagala November: NSSF National Rifle/Pistol Championship at SLNS, Gemunu Range, Welisara International Meets January 10-17: H.H. the Amir of Kuwait 9th International Shooting Grand Prix 2020 in Kuwait February 19-29: Qatar Open Shotgun Meet in Doha, Qatar March 4-13: ISSF World Cup Shotgun Championship in Nicosia, Cyprus March 15-26: ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Championship in Delhi, India April 16-26: Olympic Games Test Event Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Tokyo, Japan April: Asian Air Gun Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia June 2-9: ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Munich, Germany June 22-29: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Air Gun Championship in Bangladesh June 22-July 3: ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Baku, Azerbaijan July 11-19: ISSF Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Suhl, Germany July 24-August 3: XXXII Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan | |