The National Shooting Sports Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) has set January 23 and 24 as dates for the NSSF Skeet Open Championship, which will be held at the National Shotgun Range in Payagala, Kalutara.

Under the leadership of Shirantha Peiris and purview of experts Mohan Gilbert as Match Director and Dinesh Lionel as Range Master, the Skeet Open 2021 is expected to herald NSSF’s intended events calendar, which consists of 11 local meets.

“We are highly thrilled to have events back after many months. All are eager to take part and we are certain that we can expect a good competition, which will be conducted as per ISSF rules and regulations. More importantly, this meet will be considered as a trial for future international meets,” stated Pradeep Edirisinghe, the General Secretary of NSSF.

An official communiqué released by the NSSF revealed that participants will be allocated slots to shoot two rounds of 25 clays for a total of 50 clays on the first day.

“On the second day participants with Top 12 scores out of the first 50 clays will be detailed to shoot three more rounds of 25 clays to shoot a total of 125 clays. The top six shooters from the total of 125 clays will then move on to shoot the finals as per current ISSF format, where any tie breaks will also be settled. The scores from the first two rounds will be considered for the Team, Masters and Ladies categories,” the release issued by NSSF said.

The NSSF General Secretary stated that entries will be accepted until January 20 with the signatures of shooters and club officials. Entries sent by participants should be sent to the NSSF only through the respective clubs in writing and with duly paid entry fees, the NSSF communiqué said.

“Clubs with preferences of when to shoot will be entertained by the NSSF until January 20, while dates and time slots for clubs will be finalised and circulated by January 21. Once all is finalised no changes will be made under any circumstances and clubs will be held responsible to ensure their competitors are present to shoot in the allocated squads,” said Edirisinghe who detailed the arrangements made to conduct a smooth event.

The overall winner of the Individual Open event will receive a gold medal and a certificate, while the next top two finishers will receive silver and bronze medals respectively with certificates. The winners of the Team event will also receive a similar set of awards. In addition to the two main events Youth, Ladies and Masters categories are also slotted to take place depending on the number of entries received.

The two-day event will be the first to be held in almost 10 months, since sports activities in Sri Lanka were forced to call off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.