National Skeet Shotgun Championship from 6 Oct.

The National Shooting Sports Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) will hold the National Skeet Championship from 6-8 October, at the National Shotgun Range in Payagala, Kalutara. 

Under the leadership of Shirantha Peiris and with the assistance of experts Jonathan Martenstyn and Mohan Gilbert, the NSSF has also been eagerly promoting shotgun sports. This is being done while simultaneously popularising the air rifle and air gun disciplines around the country, mainly among schools. The forthcoming National Skeet Championship will be one of the four shotgun events planned for 2017. The NSSF in its annual calendar has included a total of eight meets with four each from the shotgun, air rifle and air gun events. 

The NSSF in an official communiqué revealed that participants ranked in the Top 30 in the concluded NSSF Open Meet 2017, which successfully conducted last month, will be slotted into details to their rankings to shoot on the second day of the Skeet Nationals. 

“All other participants and clubs will be allocated slots to fill on the first day of the meet. A competitor must shoot their first 50 clays on the first day and after that shooters with the 12 highest hits will be slotted according to rankings to shoot at a further 75 clays on the final day. The top six shooters from the total of 125 clays will then move on to shoot in the finals as per the current ISSF format, where any tie breaks will also be settled. The scores from the first two rounds will be considered for the team award,” the NSSF said.

NSSF General Secretary Pradeep Edirisinghe stated that entries will be accepted until 21 September, with the signatures of shooters and club officials. 

“Only entries sent through the respective clubs in writing with duly paid entry fees will be accepted,” he asserted.

“The NSSF will accept late entries until 12.00 noon on 28 September, and any entry later than that will not be entertained. The NSSF has officially sent circulars, noting down the terms and conditions to all affiliated clubs and associations by now,” he added.

The overall winner of the Individual Open event will receive a challenge trophy in addition to a gold medal and certificate. The next top two finishers will receive silver and bronze medals respectively with certificates. The winners of the team event will also receive similar sets of awards. In addition to the two main events, the Youth, Ladies and Masters categories are also slotted to take place depending on the number of entries received. Following this event, the NSSF will conduct the National Trap Championship from 26-29 October.