Shirantha Peiris top marksman overall
Overall winner of NSSF Trap and Skeet Open Meets 2017, Shirantha Peiris (3rd from R) with other top performers (L-R) Jeremy Fernando, Kushan Samaranayake (winner of Youth categories), Rishan Dias, Nihal Perera and Johan Fernando
Shirantha Peiris won 2 overall championship titles at the National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) Trap Open and Skeet Open Meets held at the National Shotgun Range in Payagala, Kalutara. Peiris won Gold in the Master category in both Trap and Skeet.
Peiris, the incumbent NSSF President’s skills at the Trap Open Meet held from June 9 to 11, pushed Nihal Perera and Maurice Wambeek to 2nd and 3rd positions to claim Silver and Bronze respectively, in the Master category.
With an overwhelming tally, Peiris won the overall title with Rishan Dias and Nihal Perera finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Kaushan Samaranayake too had a victorious double meet, winning Gold in theYouth category at both events held 4 weeks apart.
Samaranayake overcame Malisha Karunarathne to claim Gold at the Trap Open Meet. In the Team category, Negombo Rifle Shooting Club (NRSC) ‘A’ won Gold, while Peiris’ Clay Target Shooting Club (CTSC) of Colombo won Silver. The Police ‘A’ team won Bronze.
At the Skeet Open Meet, held from July 14-16 in Payagala, Peiris claime his 2nd overall win in 2017, in Shotgun events. After winning Gold in the Master category, Peiris’ final tally made him easy winner of the overall Gold medal, over Dallas Martenstyne and Susira Diwulwewa who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Here too, young Kaushan Samaranayake won Gold with ease in the Youth category. Air Force SC shooters, Shiroma Priyadarshani, Chathuri Wickramasinghe and Dilani Jayakody finished with Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively, in the Ladies’ category. Eventually, CTSC had the honour of winning the Team category championship, ahead of Air Force SC ‘A’ and NRSC, who won Silver and Bronze respectively.
With these 2 events, the NSSF has completed 4 competitions in 2017, with 4 more to come up before year end. In addition, the NSSF is currently holding 2 qualifying meets to pick Shooters for the Commonwealth Games.
“We have finalised 8 domestic meets for 2017, 4 each for Shotgun and Air gun events. Accordingly, we have selected international events that are useful to us as a country. Our competitions, domestic or international, the Ministry of Sports has been informed and updated, as we come under them,” said NSSF General Secretary Prasanna Edirisinghe.
Of late, the NSSF has focused on promoting Shotgun events, as much as they promote Air gun shooting islandwide. Hence, the NSSF included 4 Shotgun events for this year, of which 2 have already been completed. They will hold the Trap and Skeet National Championships in October. NSSF Assistant Secretary in-charge of Shotguns, Jonathan Martenstyne, said his association is keen on developing the sport by assisting Shooters with the minimum necessities.
“I have been concentrating on developing Shotgun. It has immense opportunity, even for the local public, who are naturally talented. The Shotgun discipline has in Sri Lanka for many years but lately, especially during the war, certain restrictions forced this style to a natural death. In addition, a lack of ranges for Shotgun, and its cost is more costly than Air guns. There should be at least 15 machines to conduct an international meet, but at Payagala, the range owned by the Sri Lanka Clay Target Club, has 1 machine that oscillates to different directions. The sport itself is a challenge, as shooters cannot foresee from where the target appears. It comes at random. Then there is a shortage of Shotguns, which are expensive. With the intervention of NSSF President, Shirantha Peiris, we managed to secure 48 Shotguns which are on the way. We have applied for clearance from the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Defence,” he revealed.
The NSSF will hold the Qualifying Meets for the upcoming Commonwealth Games at the Naval Base in Welisara this weekend and the weekend following next. Their next competition, the Negombo Open Meet, will be held at Welisara from August 21-27. - NA