Janaka Ritigahapola - undisputed champ in Open Division

PISTOL SHOOTING: After a successful National Practical Pistol Shooting Championships, the National IPSC team will leave on December 2 to participate in the Austral-Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. There will be over 600 shooters from about 20 countries vying for honours.

According to Capt. (Rtd) Sarath de Zoyza who has been coaching the National IPSC team for the last 18 years, the Sri Lankan IPSC shooters have won numerous individual and team trophies, including the Austral-Asian Championships in International competitions in the past and are currently rated amongst the best three teams in Austral-Asia, along with the Philippines and Australia.

The Sri Lanka authorities, however, are not taking things easy and has laid down a rule that the Sri Lankan team must attend regular training of 15 days this month in order to maintain Sri Lanka's position that is being seriously challenged by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In the National IPSC, Lt. Col. Janaka Ritigahapola became the undisputed National Champion in the Open Division. He has won the title on eight occasions, the last three years consecutively, ever since the IPSC Nationals in 1991.

In the ladies category of the Open Division, Sgt. Inoka Weerasinghe of the Air Force retained her National title which she won six occasions in the past.

Then Sgt. Kamal Podimahattaya and Sgt. Chaminda Prasad of the Sri Lanka Army were the National champions in the Standard and Production Divisions respectively.

S. Thomas' first fifteen rugby skipper Yohann Fernando showed that he was equally good in shooting and he bagged the Junior Open category (under 21) while in the Senior Open Division (over 50 years) CI Gratain Walter of the STF was the winner.

The Team Championships of all three divisions were retained by the SL Army, whilst the Ladies Category has been dominated by the SL Air Force for several years. The Police and the Navy are yet to get their act together to be capable of offering any serious challenge to the Army and the Air Force.

The standard of civilian shooting has deteriorated considerably since the days of Dr. Jayaraj Nanayakkara and Lasantha Samarakone who won the National Championships in the Standard and Open Divisions respectively, beating their more privileged competitors from the Armed Forces and the Police.

The International Practical Shooting Confederation of Sri Lanka (IPSC-SL) which is affiliated to the National Rifle Association of Sri Lanka (NRA-SL) conducted its 15th National Championships from 25th to 28th October 2007, at the scenic, purpose built IPSC Range of the Hill Country Sports Shooting Club (HCSSC) at Hantane, Kandy.

An unprecedented number of IPSC Shooters and Range Officers from the Armed Forces, Police and Civilian Shooting Clubs competed in the 3-day event which consisted of eight exciting and challenging stages to test not only their shooting skills but also their physical fitness, speed, agility, reflexes and their thinking capacity. Accuracy, speed of shooting and movement are equally important in Practical Shooting.