Olympic rifle shooting in Sri Lanka has received a great honour through an invitation extended to veteran sportsman Ibrahim Hamid to be a member of the Elite Panel of Jury for Rifle and Pistol at the ISSF World Cup to be conducted in New Delhi India, from February 20 to 28, 2019.
The International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) is the world governing body for Olympic shooting and conducts several World Cup competitions in different countries so that the best shooters could qualify for participation at the Olympic Games by reaching the ISSF designated Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS).
The MQS must be achieved at designated World Cups and Continental Games only. In view of the importance of these events only the world’s best are invited to be in the Elite Panel of Jurors for Rife and Pistol to ensure a very high standard of adjudication.
Hamid was in the Panel of Jury at the last Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia where he served with distinction and the present invitation is a reflection of the esteem he is held in by the International Shooting Sport and the ISSF.
Rifle shooting was among the very first in sports to stipulate Qualifying Standards for Olympic participation ensuring that only the cream of the world shooters battle it out at the Olympics.
Hamid fondly known as The Tanker for his barging runs like a battle tank on the rugby field, captained the Police team with distinction.
An expert with the pistol, he was specially trained in VVIP Security and for years ensured their safety. Having excelled in Jury Duties in many international competitions around the world, Hamid is one of the very few in Sri Lanka, qualified in Electronic Scoring Targets, systems (EST) which is the only System approved and used at the highest levels of International Competitions.
A strict disciplinarian, Hamid is a Life Member of Sri Lanka Rugby, being its chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.
In shooting he heads the Judges Committee of the governing body, the NSSF as chairman, a post he has held for several years, contributing much to the development and adjudication of shooting.
Hamid said the invitation is a great honour for the sport of shooting in Sri Lanka that shows the high esteem the ISSF has for the country.