The Africa Shooting Sports Federation has offered Kenya the rights to host Africa 10m Air Pistol and Air Rifle Championships for junior and senior players next year.
Hosny Hazem, the president of ASSF offered the opportunity to Kenya over the Easter weekend during the organisation’s board meeting in Nairobi. This was the first time in history that Kenya hosted the African shooting sports board.
However, Hazem left the Kenya Shooting Sports Federation under the leadership of Shoaib Vayani to select the dates for the championships given that 2020 is an Olympic year and will be full of events. Algeria are the hosts of the 2019 continental championships with also act as qualifiers for Tokyo 2020.
The ASSF president assured KSSF that he is ready to offer a helping hand in the preparations for the showpiece.
“Shoaib has already warmed up to the idea and I will support them with everything they want as the president of the African board. We will let them start by hosting few events because we need to enlarge shooting ranges in Kenya and this is a good opportunity to support them for these events,” said Hazem.
“The government must be involved in the sport because the rifles and ammunition are very expensive. The ASSF can support Kenya and any other country in Africa through educational programmes for the shooters and coaches by giving them some support in the shooting ranges. If this can make a revolution in shooting in any country, I will support them,” added the ex-general in the Egyptian military.
Hazem has also encouraged Kenya to form a target sprint (a new discipline of shooting sports) team. This entertaining event involves running and air-rifle shooting where a rifleman/woman runs 100m to the first shooting spot, then another 100m sprint to the second firing line and finishes with same distance dash.
