Patterson claims National Skeet title
Shehan Patterson of Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC) bounced back to unleash his full potential to clinch the NSSF National Skeet Championship 2024 held at the CTSCC Shotgun Range in Payagala.
Patterson, who finished among the top three alongside top finisher Sandakelum Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and team mate Sajeev de Silva, as the third among 15 other competitors, however stunned the top two to finish with 50 points from five rounds. He finished as the third with 27 points from the Open category, but showed great resilience to recover and push Ranasinghe to overall second position and de Silva to third.
Patterson claimed the gold medal, but not after cleverly outsmarting Ranasinghe by a single point and pushing him to the second position. With 49 points from the final round, Ranasinghe had to contend with the silver medal while de Silva, with 43 points, was the clear bronze medal winner.
Shehan Patterson aims a clay
In the Men’s Open category, Airman Ranasinghe was unstoppable, as he went on to claim the gold medal with 33 points. Sajeev de Silva of CTSCC won the silver medal with 28 points, as Patterson fell short by a point against his team mate and settled with the bronze medal after finishing with 27 points.
CTSCC claimed the Teams category following the cohesive work by Patterson, de Silva and Shankar Dharmaratne, who put together a fine performance to help their side claim the gold medal after accumulating 78 points. With Open winner Ranasinghe in their team, Sri Lanka Air Force completed at second position and claimed the silver medal following contributions from team mates Duminda Bandara and Janith Priyashan. Police SC finished at third position, as they claimed the bronze medal. With contributions from Upul Rathnayake, Rathnayake Wimalarathna and Dushantha Wijewardhana, Police managed to score 45 points.
Almost all of the top ranked clay target shooters registered under clubs affiliated to National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) competed in this year’s NSSF National Skeet Championship, which was held over two days. The event was organised and conducted by NSSF under the leadership of President Shirantha Peries, with Mohan Gilbert, Vice President Shotgun, as Competition Director and Assistant Secretary Dinesh Lionel as Assistant Competition Director.