NSSF event calendar to flag off with 8th Navy Open

The National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) will host 12 national level events during 2024, with the target of selecting the crème of shooters for the ISSF World Cups and Paris Olympics.

The NSSF event calendar for 2024 includes 12 competitions. In addition Sri Lankan shooters are slotted to represent the country at eight international events, with the core events being the two ISSF World Cups and the Olympic Games to be held in Paris, France from July 26 to August 11.

Local shooters already made their presence felt at the three concluded international events held in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kuwait and at the recent ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Championship in Cairo, Egypt, where Amandika Amarasinghe impressed for Sri Lanka.

However the NSSF Novices Air Gun Championship, which was to be held during the last week of February, has been rescheduled and a confirmed date will be notified in due course. But the 2024 event calendar will kickstart the 8th Navy Open Shooting Championship to be held at the Naval Range in Welisara from March 16 to 22, a competition conducted by Sri Lanka Navy and sanctioned by the NSSF.

“The local event list will start off with the 8th Navy Open Shooting Championship in Welisara, where all top shooters are expected to take part. We are optimistic that the rest of the planned events could be completed accordingly and give our local shooters the necessary exposure to lay the pathway to represent the country at the top international events to be held towards the end of the year,” Pradeep Edirisinghe, the Secretary of NSSF, stated.

This will be followed by the two shotgun competitions – the NSSF Skeet Open and NSSF Trap Open – which have been slotted to be held during the latter part of March at the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo Range in Payagala. Action will move on from the second week of May with the NSSF Open Air Gun Championship to be held at the NSSF Range in Kohuwala, followed by the NSSF Open 25m and 50m Championship to be held during the second week of June at Welisara.

In between top ranked shooters will focus their chances at the ISSF World Cup with the ISSF Final Qualification in Shotgun to be held from April 22 to 30 in Doha, Qatar. The two ISSF World Cups will be held during June in Germany and Italy, followed by the Olympic Games.

The action locally will move again to the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo Range in Payagala with the NSSF Skeet Nationals and NSSF Trap Nationals, which will be held during August two weeks apart. The NSSF Youth and Junior Air Gun Championship has been slotted for the second week of September at the NSSF Range in Kohuwala, which will be followed by the Athugala Youth and Junior Air Gun Championship, to be held during October in Kurunegala.

The final couple of events have been scheduled for November and December, with the NSSF Air Gun National Championship during the third week of November at the NSSF Range in Kohuwala. The 2024 event calendar will wind up with the NSSF National 25m and 50m Championship allocated to take place at the Naval Range in Welisara.