Airman Sandakelum wins NSSF Skeet Shotgun Championship 

Sandakelum Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka Air Force made a strong comeback in the final match to clinch the National Skeet Shotgun Championship 2017 held at the National Shotgun Range in Payagala, Kalutara. 

Ranasinghe finished off with a tally of 38 from 64 shots. His tally after the first round was 72, which left Ranasinghe fourth on the list, way behind top-ranked Shirantha Peiris, who ended up with 95 after the first round. 

However, Ranasinghe kept his composure and made all his shots to finish as the national skeet champion, a point ahead of Peiris, who had to be content with the second overall position. Peiris, the President of the National Shooting Sports Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) and the defending champion, had to give in during the final match despite his strong first round. The shooter, representing the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC), finished off with 37 out of 64 in the final round.  Third place went Shankar Dharmarathne of CTSCC, who made 28 out of 50 in the final round after finishing third on the list in the first round with 73. Experienced shooter Dallas Martenstyne of the Negombo Rifle Club (NRC) ended in fourth position with a tally of 18 out of 40 in the final match and he was fifth in the standings with 71 after the first round. 

Prasad Madushanka of Sri Lanka Air Force ended up 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 second, but he 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. The list included six in the Master’s category. The remaining 16 shooters were categorised in the Youth segment. Overall winner Ranasinghe also topped the Open segment while Peiris, who emerged overall runners-up, finished on top in the Master’s category. 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 the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC), who ended with a tally of 87. The three shooters who represented CTSCC - Shankar Dharmarathne, Shirantha Peiris and Sajeev de Silva – clinched the team award after they finished on top ahead of Sri Lanka Air Force by a single point. 

The airmen - Manoj Wijewickrema, Nishantha Wijekoon and Sandakelum Ranasinghe - had to settle for second with 86 points. Sri Lanka Police ‘A’ finished third with 68 points. They were represented by Madukande Diulwewa, Upul Rathnayake and Rathnayaka Wimalarathne. Milan Osanda, Sanjeewa Jayawardena and Sumal Silva helped Sri Lanka Police ‘B’ finish fourth among the teams with 48 points. 

The overall winner of the Individual Open event will receive a challenge trophy in addition to a gold medal and certificate at the NSSF Annual Awards Night to be held later this month. The next top two finishers will receive silver and bronze medals along with certificates. The winners of the team event will also receive a similar set of awards. 

In addition to the two main segments, the winners in the Youth, Ladies’ and Masters categories are also slotted to receive awards and certificates. The event was organised by the NSSF.