The National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) will conduct its Skeet Open and Trap Open Championships for 2025 during the latter part of March at the Payagala Range of the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo. 

The first of the two events, the NSSF Skeet Open Championship 2025, commenced yesterday (15) and will continue today (16), while the NSSF Trap Open Championship 2025 will be held from 27-30 March. 

Sri Lanka’s top clay target shooting athletes of all categories are expected to join the dual meet, which will be considered when updating national pools as well as for trials for future international competitions. 

Shooters representing the Clay Target Shooting Club of Colombo, Negombo Rifle Club, Magnum Sport Shooting Club, Wayamba Sport Shooting Club, Hill Country Sport Shooting Club, Cambrian Shooting Club, Scorpion Shooting Club, Police Shooting Club, Army Small Arms Association, Sri Lanka Navy Musketry, Sri Lanka Air Force Shooting Club, Athugala Shooting Sport Club, Siyane Rifle Club, Sports Shooting Club of Nuwara Eliya, and Magam Sports Shooting Club are expected to compete for honours. 

Both competitions will be held under four categories – Junior, Senior, Super Senior, and Ladies – where winners will be awarded medals and certificates, as well as for the first three positions of the Overall and Team segments. 

During the NSSF Skeet Open Championship, all athletes will be allocated slots to shoot two series of 25 clays for a total of 50 clays and the top 12 scores will be detailed to shoot three more series of 25 clays on the final day to shoot a total of 125 clays.

The same amount of clays will be allocated during the NSSF Trap Open Championship, but with the overwhelming number of entries, athletes will be allocated to shoot two series of 25 clays each during the first three days of the meet. 

The top 18 athletes who achieve the minimum requirement of 50% after the first round will be detailed to shoot three more series of 25 clays each to total 125 clays on 29 and 30 March. 

On the first three days, all participants will be allocated slots to shoot two rounds of 25 clays for a total of 50 clays. 

Participants within the top 18 of the first 50 clays will then be detailed to shoot three more rounds of 25 clays, to shoot a total of 125 clays commencing from the third day, 29 March. 

“In case there are multiple athletes with the same score who qualify for the top 18, a ‘tie break’ will be conducted as per International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) competition regulations. The top six shooters of the 125 clays will then move on to shoot a maximum of 50 clays at the finals as per the ISSF format. Any further tie breaks will be conducted as per ISSF rules for Olympic trap,” said NSSF Secretary General Pradeep Edirisinghe. 

The NSSF will allow only firearms of 12 gauge with restrictions in over-and-under, side-by-side, and semi-automatic during the competition. 

The entire competition will be conducted in accordance with the latest ISSF rules and NSSF competition rules due to a limitation of cartridges and will be open only to NSSF member clubs and affiliations. 

Under the leadership of NSSF President Shirantha Peiris, both meets will be conducted with the assistance of Competition Director Mohan Gilbert and Assistant Competition Director Dinesh Lionel.