Life Online Speaks To The Youngest Rifle Shooter To Represent Sri Lanka 

Rifle shooting, a sports discipline that requires a great deal of concentration has slowly picked up at grass-root level in Sri Lanka. Today, many young enthusiasts are developing a passion towards this sport. Ishara Abeyasuriya is one such passionate rifle shooter who recently represented Sri Lanka at the International Metallic Silhouette Shooting world championship which was held in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Ishara is also a member of the U 19 Scrabble team in school, a member of the Sri Lanka Racing (SLR) Motor Sports for Endurance Karting and a senior driver in national karting championships.

In a casual conversation with Life Online, Ishara shared his experience at the recent world championship, the challenges he has faced in rifle shooting and future plans. 

Give us a little introduction. 

I study at St. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia and will be doing my O/Ls next year. I do rifle shooting, scrabble, football and karting as sports. In addition to that I’m also a member of the Wildlife Association. 

Why do you like rifle shooting? 

My father used to do hunting and by looking at him I too developed a liking towards this sport. 

Practising for the ISSF event (10M Olympic event) 

You recently won an award at a world championship. Tell us more about it and other achievements. 

The recent event was the 12th International Metallic Silhouette Shooting World Championship which was held in South Africa. It was the first time I participated in an international championship. I was quite happy to represent my country and I in the end I was able to make my country as well as my family proud. I am grateful for them for being with me right throughout. I am grateful for my coaches who trained me to achieve this milestone. What was quite special about my participation in this event was that I was the youngest ever participant to have represented Sri Lanka in this championship in it’s history alongside other veterans in the army. There were brigadiers, a major, a captain and the three other civilians were senior citizens. 

Shooting his way to a silver in Bloemfontein, South Africa 

Where do you go for practices? 

I practice the 10 metre Olympic event at home and for the 0.22 Silhouette shooting I go to the Sri Lanka Army premises or Negombo beach. 

How has rifle shooting helped you in your studies? 

It requires a lot of concentration and therefore rifle shooting has helped me a lot in my studies. Meditation is also key in developing that focus. 

What are the challenges that you have faced in this sport? 

Currently I don’t have facilities for range and therefore I practice the 10 metre event from home. I am a left hand shooter but I had to borrow a gun for the international championship which was of a right hand shooter. 

There may be others who are interested in a sport which is still not very popular among the youth in Sri Lanka. What’s your message to them? 

This sport has a lot to do with discipline, how to behave in the range because you are handling a firearm and therefore you could injure or kill someone. One would become more organised when they continue this sport. It is a good sport as it helps you in your studies and it helps you to do other sports as well. 

You have won awards in other sports as well. Can you talk about those as well? 

I have won many team awards in scrabble and for Karting too I have won many individual awards. I took part in the 10 metre Olympic national event for the first time and I won a silver in the Youth category. 

Any acknowledgements? 

I would like to thank my father and mother for supporting me in every possible way. I would like to thank our Warden Reverend Marc Billimoria, because without his permission and blessing I wouldn’t have been able to participate in this championship. My coaches and all those who have helped me to come this far. Also I would like to thank Uncle Perry of Magnum Sports Shooting Club and also to Uncle Anil (Mr. Anil Gunawardena) and Uncle Robin (Group Captain (Rtd) Robin Jilla) for letting me use their rifles. 

What are your future plans? 

My vision in life is to go NASA and become an astronaut because I like to learn about space. 

Interview Photographs by Damith Wickramasinghe