Mangala Samarakoon of Army gets two points above Olympic qualifying score

by Lal Gunesekera

SHOOTING: Mangala Samarakoon of the Army had three wins including 589 points in the 60 Shot Prone event which was two points better than the International Olympic qualifying score (MQS) of 587 at the National Championships of the National Shooting Sports Federation (NSSF) at the Navy Range at Welisara. There were several other good performances that were recorded.

Samarakoon who struck "Gold" at the 2006 South Asian Games with a record score continued his good form with wins in the 60 Shot Prone, 3x40 Positional Match and the 10 M Air Rifle Match with U. N. D. Dharmasiri also of the Army providing stiff opposition throughout.

Samarakoon had a score of 575 points in the 10 m Air Rifle event which was five points better than the MQS of 570, while in the most demanding event (3x40 Positional for Rifle) his score of 1129 fell short by a mere point to the MQS.

In the Men's Pistol events, E. M. Senanayake of the Army was outstanding with wins in the 50 m Pistol and 10 m Air Pistol, while N. P. N. Gunadasa also of the Army who provided keen competition, won the 25 m Standard Pistol event. The 25 m Centre Free Pistol event saw SI Karunatilleke of Police giving a sterling performance to ensure victory with H. A. M. C. Herath of Air Force coming in a close second.

In the Women's Rifle events, T. A. N. A. Tennekoon of the Army recorded a creditable performance in the 10 m Air Rifle event with a score of 382 (seven points better than the Olympic MQS of 375), while Mangalika also of the Army and H. L. S. Kanthi of Air Force also did quite well to record scores of 383 and 379 respectively. Tennekoon also went on to win the 3x20 event too.

South Asian Games Gold medallist Nilmini Illangaratne of the Navy won her pet 60 m Prone event with a score of 580 with Tennekoon of the Army in second place with Pradeepika of Air Force coming third.

In the women's Pistol events, Jayasekera of the Army who led in the qualifying round by 5 points had the disappointment of being overtaken in the finals by Ruwini Abeymanne of the Negombo Rifle Club to lose the Championship by 7 points. Sandamali of the Army who had a bad first card of 88 points had to be contend with third place though fighting back with some very good shooting in the latter cards. All three scored more than the Olympic MQS of 365 points.

Damayanthi Wijeratne who led in the qualifying round with 556 points in the 25 m Pistol event must be disappointed to be overtaken by both Wijesuriya and Abeymanne in the finals to end up third, while Wijesuriya and Abeymanne were first and second respectively.

Minister of Sports and Public Recreation, Gamini Lokuge, was the chief guest.

Teams from the Army, Navy, Air Force as well as from the Police and other civilian clubs like the Sport Shooting Club of Colombo, Negombo Rifle Club and Magnum Sports Club participated. The NSSF is affiliated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the world governing body (the International Shooting Sport Federation).

Results - Men

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Mangala Samarakoon - Army - 575, 2. U. N. D. Dharmasiri - Army - 569, 3. Chandra Kumara - Army - 569.

50 m Pistol: 1. E. M. Senanayake - Army - 539, 2. N. P. N. Gunadasa - Army - 528, 3. Sagara Wimaladharma - NRC - 507.

10 m Air Pistol: 1. G. M. Senanayake - Army - 574, 2. N. P. N. Gunadasa - Army - 565, 3. S. Fernando - MSC - 568.

50 m Rifle: 1. Mangala Samarakoon - Army - 589, 2. U. N. D. Dharmasiri - Army - 581, 3. W. K. Y. Larishantha - Navy - 580.

50 m 3 x 40 Rifle: 1. Mangala Samarakoon - Army - 1129, 2. U. N. D. Dharmasiri - Army - 1103, 3. M. M. S. Chandrasiri - SLAF - 1082.

25 m Standard Pistol: 1. N. P. N. Gunadasa - Army - 539, 2. S. Fernando - MSC - 537, 3. E. M. K. Ekanayake - SLAF - 531.

Rapid Fire Pistol: 1. G. A. C. Prasad - Army - 491, 2. H. M. A. L. Herath - SLAF - 476, 3. N. A. D. Hemantha - SLAF - 476.

Centre Fire Pistol: Karunatileke - Police - 553, 2. H. M. A. L. Herath - SLAF - 548, 3. S. Fernando - MSC - 545.

Results - Women

50 m Rifle: 1. Nilmini Illangaratne - Navy - 580, 2. T. A. N. A. Tennekoon - Army - 578, 3. K. G. D. Pradeepika - SLAF - 576.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. T. A. N. A. Tennekoon - Army - 484, 2. Mangalika - Army - 478, 3. H. L. S. Kanthi - SLAF- 475.

3 x 20 Rifle: T. A. N. A. Tennekoon - Army - 565, 2. Warnasuriya - Army - 549, 3. N. Illangaratne - Navy - 548.

10 m Air Pistol: 1. R. Abeymanne - NRC - 467.9, 2. Jayasekera - Army - 467.2, 3. Sandamali - Army - 460.0.

25 m Sport Pistol: 1. S. Wijesuriya - MSC - 740, 2. R. Abeymanne - NRC - 736, 3. D. Wijeratne - SLAF - 731.