Kenya Sports shooting federation today in preparation for the upcoming level three shotgun IPSC Championships held a test shooting event at Shaba range in Samburu county.
The level three championships will be hosting a ray of countries in Africa as well as overseas. Some of the countries that have registered for the event include Zimbabwe,South Africa and other countries from Europe. A total of 150 shooters from 106 regions in the world have registered for the continental event so far.
“We have sent invitations to 106 countries through the international federation and we are getting more entries by the day. Shaba shooting range is one of the best currently as it meets all the international standards for a shooting range. We look to host even bigger events like the world championships in coming years.” Mr. Shoib Vayani, President Kenya shooting federation.
The federation will be looking to leverage on the aspect of sports tourism as a main anchor to sell the event to the international community since the Shaba national reserve is just in the vicinity. Speaking shoot, Colonel Joseph Rutto who is the Project manager at Shaba range called on corporates to come on board as sponsors to the event.
“Kenya is highly endowed with wildlife and at this event we will be giving our guests and shooters an experience beyond the championships and that is what Shaba provides”
The federation has in a bid to popularize the sport began a reach out program where it trains university students to be scorers. Which mainly focuses on ladies is also helping the shooting bridge the gender parity gap.
“We have specifically chosen our stats team to be only ladies. This is one of the federations that have surpassed the quota in terms of gender representation. Last year we hosted a women’s only shooting competition where 100 women came and participated. The event happening in June will equally have ladies competing” said KSSF assistant Secretary general Alykhan
It will be the first time Kenya is hosting a level three International Practical Shooting Confederation event Kenya Sports shooting federation therefore plans to use the monthly league events as a build up to the June event which will also double up as a criteria for selecting a team that will represent Kenya at the world championships to be held in Thailand where Kenya will be making a maiden appearance. Consequently, there will be a pre-Kenya open event dubbed “Road to Shaba” on the third Sunday of May 2022 where various shooting clubs have been invited to participate