Medal potential Lankan shooter to aim sans coach
View(s):While the Sri Lankan contingent for the Commonwealth Games 2018 reach Gold Coast, Australia in portions, the shooting team, including three athletes and its manager, is set to leave the country this Thursday. The three-member shooting team is said to have a potential silver medalist in Suranga Fernando, who has impressively performed at recent events conducted by the National Shooting Sports Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF).
But to the dismay of the athlete and NSSF officials, the touring party will have to go ahead minus Suranga’s coach. In addition to medal hope Suranga Fernando who is set to compete in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol and 50m Pistol events, the team includes Upul Kumara Wijeratne and Sanduni Perera. Wijeratne competes in the Men’s 10m Pistol and Perera’s event is Women’s 10m Air Rifle.
Pradeep Edirisinghe has been appointed as the team’s manager. Unlike in other sports the team Manager has the herculean task of obtaining and making sure Ministry of Defence clearances and Civil Aviation clearances at both ends are perfected due to the nature of the equipment.
However the requests made by NSSF officials, to include Fernando’s coach in the touring party, have not been considered by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC), who are the ultimate decision makers on multi-discipline events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
“We have observed that Suranga (Fernando) stands a strong chance in reaching the final round and is in line for the silver medal in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event. It is sad that Suranga Fernando’s coach cannot accompany him at this juncture as Suranga scored 576 during the Commonwealth selection trial and at the last Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland. The Indian shooter P.Nanjappa scored 580 points to win the gold medal then while the second and third in the final eight scored 578 and 574 respectively,” Shirantha Peiris, the NSSF President, stated.
“At this level of competition to have his coach by him is critical to the athlete. However, under this circumstances, the National Shooting Sport Federation has supported Suranga with top grade ammunition and other equipment as requested by him and we are hopeful that he would perform at his best at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.”
“It is essential to mention that the Ministry of Sports has extended its fullest cooperation to the NSSF to facilitate the performance of these three shooters. The NSSF must extend a special gratitude to the Commander of the Navy for making Welisara Range available for these three shooters to practice,” he added.
Meanwhile the NSSF’s intended project of a new National Shooting Range complex, at Waters’ Edge in Battaramulla has cleared the drawing board, quotations have been called as per government tender guidelines and is expected to be awarded soon so that construction would take place within the next few weeks in order to be completed in time for the 2020 SAG Games expected to take place in Sri Lanka. If this project could be further accelerated it will facilitate in building a very strong Sri Lankan shooting contingent to compete at this competition.