Negombo shooters hit bulls eye at shooting Nationals

Top six finishers (from left) Krishan Daniels, Rishan Dias, Ambrith Samaranayake, Kaushan Samaranayake, Nivantha Waas and Shirantha Peries flanked by match officials

By Susil Premalal

Kaushan Samaranayake of Negombo Rifle Club (NRC) emerged overall champion at the ABT Shooting Nationals 2025 held at the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo (CTSCC) range in Payagala.

Kaushan led a dominant performance by NRC, with his teammates Rishan Dias and Ambrith Samaranayake finishing second and third respectively in the overall standings after a closely contested six-way final featuring leading clay target shooters from NRC and CTSCC.

CTSCC veteran Shirantha Peries finished fourth, while Nivantha Waas of NRC and Krishan Daniels of CTSCC completed the top six.

NRC also excelled in the team events, securing the top two positions. NRC Alpha claimed first place, followed by NRC Beta, while Clay 1 of CTSCC finished third.

Overall winner Kaushan Samarasinghe is flanked by Negombo RC team mates Rishan Dias (right) and Ambrith Samaranayake (left) who finished second and third respectively

In the Super Senior category, Ambrith Samaranayake secured first place, with Shiyam Dias and Dallas Martenstyn completing an NRC clean sweep of the podium. Neeliya Fernando of House of Sports Shooters won the women’s title, while Jason Patterson of CTSCC clinched the Junior category. Dimitry Livera of NRC and Rehan Perera of Siyane Rifle Shooting Club finished second and third among juniors.

The three-day competition, conducted by the National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) from January 30 to February 1, featured shooters from several affiliated clubs across seven categories.

NSSF President Pradeep Edirisinghe praised the successful conduct of the event and highlighted the importance of developing Automatic Ball Target (ABT) shooting to international standards.