Airman Sandakelum is the Skeet Shotgun champ
Sandakelum Ranasinghe fought his way back to the top - Pic courtesy NSSF
Sandakelum Ranasinghe, representing Sri Lanka Air Force shot his heart out in the match as he clinched the National Skeet Shotgun Championship 2017 held at the National Shotgun Range in Payagala, Kalutara.
Ranasinghe, finished off with a count of 38 out of 64 shots, after reaching the final match as the best fourth among the six finalists and made his team proud. His tally after the first round was 72, which left Ranasinghe in the fourth of the list, way far behind top ranked Shirantha Peiris, who ended up with 95 after the first round.
However Ranasinghe, held on to his composure and made his shots perfectly to finish off as the National Skeet champion, with a point ahead of Peiris, who had to be contended with the overall second position. Peiris, the President of the National Shooting Sports Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) and the defending champion, had to give in, in the final match despite enjoying a robust round one. The shooter representing Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC) finished off with 37 out of 64 in the final round.
The third place went Shankar Dharmarathne of CTSCC, who made 28 out of 50 in the final round after completing at third in the list in the first round with 73. Experienced shooter Dallas Martenstyne of Negombo Rifle Club (NRC), completed at fourth position with a tally of 18 out of 40 in the final match and he was fifth in standings with 71 after the first round.
Prasad Madushanka of Sri Lanka Air Force, ended up at sixth after the first round with 67 but bettered his rankings after the final match with a count of 16 out of 30. Nishantha Wijekoon, also of Sri Lanka Air Force, had a better record after the first round with 79, which helped him finish at second, but was pushed down to sixth with 6 out of 20 in the final match.
A total of 25 shooters, including three females, competed in the first round and the list included six in Master’s category. The remaining 16 shooters were categorised under the Youth segment. Overall winner Ranasinghe, also topped the Open segment while Peiris, who emerged overall runners-up, finished on top among Master’s. Shiroma Priyadarshani of Sri Lanka Air Force, topped the Female shooters but finished 21st overall.
The Team championship of the two-day event went to Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC), who ended up with a tally of 87. The two rounds of five of the three shooters who represented CTSCC — Shankar Dharmarathne, Shirantha Peiris and Sajeev de Silva — were culminated for the team award, where they finished on top ahead by a point to Sri Lanka Air Force. The Airmen — Manoj Wijewickrema, Nishantha Wijekoon and Sandakelum Ranasinghe — had to settle in at second among the teams with 86 points. Sri Lanka Police ‘A’ finished third with 68 points and they were represented by Madukande Diulwewa, Upul Rathnayake and Rathnayaka Wimalarathne. Milan Osanda, Sanjeewa Jayawardena and Sumal Silva helped Sri Lanka Police ‘B’ finish off at fourth among teams with 48 points.
The overall winner of the Individual Open event will receive a challenge trophy in addition to the gold medal and a certificate at the NSSF Annual Awards Night to be held later this month. The next top two finishers will receive silver and bronze medals respectively with certificates. The winners of the Team event will also receive the similar set of awards. In addition to the two main segments the winners in Youth, Ladies and Masters categories are also slotted receive awards and certificates. The event was organised and conducted by the NSSF.