Devi Balika’s shooter Amandhika aims to bring glory to Sri Lanka
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Amandhika Amarasinghe is aiming for a medal in international competitions
Devi Balika Vidyalaya schoolgirl Amandhika Amarasinghe is being touted as the next Olympic hope for Sri Lanka in the shooting sport. The 19-year-old shooting star was named the Best Athlete of the Year at the National Shooting Sport Federation (NSSF) Awards Ceremony in 2019.
Amandhika, who represented Sri Lanka Schools at national meets, was adjudged the Best Young and Junior Athlete of the Year. She won gold medals in the 10M Air Rifle Open for Women, while also bagging the Best Performance in the Youth Rifle and Pistol category at the NSSF Nationals 2019.
“My target is to win an international gold medal and represent Sri Lanka at the Olympics,” said Amandhika, who is sitting for her A/Ls this year and has ambitions of becoming a doctor.
“I started the shooting sport when it was first introduced in school. I liked it and started going for training. Then I took part in inter-school matches. With the encouragement of my parents I continued,” recalled Amandhika, who also played badminton, chess and was a swimmer as well.
But it was in the sport of shooting that her natural talents came to the fore making her debut at the NSSF Air Gun Championship November in 2015. Her target shooting improved after she came under the wing of Navy pistol coach J. Dassanayake and later Olympian Zal Chitty while she owned an air rifle Feinwerkbau from Germany.
Amandhika receiving the main award at the 2019 NSSF Awards Ceremony
She made her international debut in 2017 at the ISSF Junior World Championship Rifle/Pistol in Suhl, Germany and at the 10th Asian Championship in Wako city, Japan where she competed in 40 shot matches.
It was in 2019 that she blossomed into a top class shooter setting a new Sri Lanka record of 621.3 in the Junior Women category at the Open Rifle and Pistol Championship at the Navy Range in Welisara.
The young shooting sensation also set multiple records at the 2019 NSSF National Rifle and Pistol Championship in a new record of 612.9.
Amandhika was a member of Sri Lanka’s bronze medal winning team at the 2019 South Asian Games held in Nepal
Amandhika also represented Sri Lanka in several international competitions in 2019 such as HH The Amir of Kuwait 8th International shooting Grand Prix, ISSF World cup Rifle/Pistol in New Delhi, India, 43rd ‘SEASA Championship 2019’ in Jakarta Indonesia, Indonesia Shooting Championship Open Tournament and 14th Asian Shooting Championship Doha Qatar where she achieved the Minimum Olympic Qualifying (MQS) score shooting her international best of 617.1 out of a possible 630. She was also a member of the Sri Lanka Air Rifle Women team which bagged a bronze medal at the South Asian Games in Nepal which was her last competition.
The advent of the COVID-19 has not dampened the enthusiasm or hunger for success for this talented teenager who has built her own practice range at her home in Wellawatte, training at least two hours a day balancing her education and sports targets.
Amandhika with Olympian Zal Chitty who is her mentor
She has been endowed with a two-year scholarship under the NOCSL-Chrysbro Next Champ Olympic project in recognition of prodigious talents.
“My ambition is to participate in more international tournaments and win medals. The scholarship will help me to buy pellets and target cards,” said Amandhika, eldest in a family of two girls. Her father is a teacher and mother an analyst programmer. Her younger sister has also taken a fancy to the shooting sport.
Amandhika is confident of shooting scores of 617 on average which she achieved in Qatar.
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