Nairobi — Shooting sports stakeholders are optimistic the country will host the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) Africa Level 4 Championships in Kenya, next year.
IPSC Kenya League chair Memba Muriuki said they have the requisite world-class facilities to host such a calibre of competition, which would be the first one to be held on the continent.
"Next year, we will have the Africa Championships. We believe that chances are high that it will be held here and we hope to see you guys (the media) covering it. The championships will now be a level four tournament... hopefully. It has never been held before and as Kenya, we hope to pioneer it," Muriuki said.
The chair further reiterated that the ultimate dream is to host the World Shoot Championships, following in the footsteps of the Thai city of Pattaya, which is slated to stage this year's edition on November 16 - December 4.
"We believe that Kenya can host the World Championships one day because we have the facilities. We are lobbying for it... if Pattaya can do it then why can't we? That is our dream," he said.
Muriuki added: "IPSC is on an observer status, which means it has a high chance of entering the Olympics. There, we have the team and individual championships and everything basically goes... so we are aggressively pushing this thing."
The country has in the past one year established itself as a destination for shooting sporting competitions, having hosted the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) Open Championships at Kirigiti Shooting Range in September last year as well as the Kenya Open IPSC Championships at the Shaba Range in Samburu in June this year.
Muriuki was speaking on Tuesday afternoon at the offices of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) during which the president, Paul Tergat, flagged off a team to represent the country in Pattaya.
The team consists of seasoned shooters in the country including Muriuki, Sammy Onyango, Robert Nyamongo, Ibrahim Ndung'u, Thomas Kiilu, Jasmeer Syan, Wilson Kabugi, Rizvan Abdul, Frank Ambundo, Asish Sennik, Geoffrey Pesa, Abdullahi Buthul, Alykhan Keshavjee and Issa Issa.
Commenting on their expectations in Asia, Muriuki said they are fired up (pun intended) and have their artillery ready to battle whatever competition may come their way.
"We go there to compete with the best and put in our best performance. They may have more resources than us but in the true Kenyan spirit, we never give up. With the exception of one or two South Africans who have been there before, we are also pioneering the continent. We want to bring back what we have learnt and post good results because these guys have been training really hard," he said.
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Concurring with Muriuki's sentiments was Keshavjee who added that they have selected the best of the best in the sports shooting scene, a process that began over a year ago.
"We had a very vigorous selection process to come up with this team. We had over a year of practical pistol shooting competitions every month where you had to participate. The selection was done on the basis of merit and scoring for over a year and now we look forward to flying the national flag high in Thailand," Keshavjee, also the secretary general of the Kenya Shooting Sports Federation (KSSF), said.
On his part, Tergat, also a military officer by trade, exuded confidence the team will do great exploits on the world scene, noting their discipline and diligence in their preparations.
"We need to support our sportsmen who are carrying this flag. When I see people with a lot of passion as they have shown, I believe they will go there and come back with a lot of experience. I am very happy to see you guys... shooting requires a lot of discipline and you have shown plenty of that in your preparations," the five-time world cross country champion said.
The team will depart for Thailand in batches from Saturday.
