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| Sunday, 12 October 2003 |
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Sri Lanka's Inoka beats World No. 2 in pistol shooting Inoka Weerasinghe and Manjula Kumudini (both from Sri Lanka Air Force) were the star performers when they took first and second places among the women shooters at the Level 3 international Practical Pistol Shooting Championships held late last month at the Police STF Shooting Range, Katukurunda. Around 40 foreign and 150 local participants were seen in action for International and National titles in fiercely contested matches which consisted 12 stages over three days. The Sri Lankan women were fast and accurate in their shooting and Inoka Weerasinghe did well to beat Grace Tan of the Philippines who is ranked No. 2 in the World. Grace Tan has also beaten the world champion recently. Inoka was awarded the IPSC President's Medal for her fine individual performance in addition to the Women's Championship Trophy. The fact that both Inoka Weerasinghe and Manjula Kumudini using obsolete .45 ACP pistols beat Grace Tan who used an ultra modern .38 Super Racegun, speaks volumes of the skills and capabilities of the two Lankan shooters. To cap it all, Inoka Weerasinghe also beat Grace Tan in a thrilling action-packed shoot-out. There is no doubt that the two Lankan shooters can hold their own against the world's best and given modern shooting equipment, the two Lankan women should be leading contenders for top honours at the next World Championships. In the men's category in Open Division, filipino Grandmasters Michael Ku and Jug Lejano finished 1st and 2nd respectively, followed by Miroslav Havlicek of the Czech Republic, Kyrre Lee of Norway and Janaka Ritigahapola of Sri Lanka in 5th place. Michael Ku was awarded the IPSC President's Medal for Open Division and Filipino Junior shooter Stephen Hinojales who finished an incredible 6th overall, was awarded the IPSC President's Medal for his category. Grace Tan's father Roland Tan who was 11th overall, won the Senior Category Championship and the President's Medal, whilst Sarath de Zoysa was awarded the Super Senior Category Championship Trophy and President's medal. The Standard Division was dominated by the foreign shooters, winning the top 6 places. Evens Skaarer of Norway won the Championship and the President's medal, followed by Raif Jensen of Denmark and Lyndon Birago of the Philippines. Sri Lankan shooters were more competitive in the Production Division, in which Jay Morales of Philippines won the Championship and the President's medal, followed by Chaminda Prasad and Sumal Silva in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. In addition to the Championship Trophies and President's medals, three competition firearms were presented by the manufacturers. STI International of USA, Arms Corporation of the Philippines and CZ of the Czech Republic to the winners of Open, Standard and Production Divisions respectively. All three firearms were won by foreign shooters. The chief guest at the opening ceremony was Rajitha Senaratne - Minister of Lands with Johnston Fernando, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and Susantha Punchinilame being shooters themselves, while Minister of Defence, Transport and Civil Aviation Tilak Marapana was the chief guest at the awards ceremony. Johnston Fernando stated that this competition will be an annual event in the future so that the technique and equipment used by the best practical shooters in the world will be exposed to all Sri Lankan shooters and this in turn will automatically improve the standard of the sport in Sri Lanka. Practical shooting is all about accuracy, power and speed (Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas). Unless one sees it with one's own eyes, you will never believe that a handgun could be fired so fast and accurately with so much power to knock down metal targets in a mater of seconds! It is challenging for the shooter and exciting for the spectator. Engaging static, moving, swinging and disappearing targets at distances varying from 3 to 50 metres from improvised positions or whilst moving at breathtaking speed until the course of fire is completed, in the fastest possible time, is the ultimate challenge in shooting, which requires perfect co-ordination of mind, body, eyes, reflexes and of course the firearm working flawlessly. To see a well trained world class shooter in action is worth going a long way to see. Due to the initiative taken by Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Johnston Fernando, Practical pistol shooting is open to Sri Lankans at the highest level. There is no doubt that the Sri Lankan shooters will take up the challenge and match the international standards before next year's championships. |
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