After successfully hosting the International Defensive Pistol Association Africa Championship in September last year, Kenya will be bidding for the International Practical Shooting Confederation Africa Championship to be held later this year.
The IDPA continental event at Kirigiti Shooting Range, Kiambu was the first time the tournament was held outside South Africa and it brought together 200 shooters from Kenya and beyond.
National Gun Owners Association secretary-general Amos Mathenge said hosting the IPSC tournament is part of their plan to take the sport to the next level.
"We want to bid for the IPSC Africa Championships, which will be held sometime in June. This is after we successfully hosted the IDPA Africa Championships at Kirigiti last year. We want to upgrade on what we did. Where we did Tier II, we will do Tier III," Mathenge said.
He added: "A tier I competition is basically a club match where even beginners can compete. The range is not as complex as in the case of tier II, which are internationally recognised competitions where participants have the chance to score points and improve on their classification."
Moreover, the country will be participating in next month's IPSC Championships in Limpopo, South Africa.
However, first, NGAO will hold a two-day IPSC Training event at Kirigiti this weekend in preparation for the February competition, down south.
"The number of those who will be travelling to South Africa is 25 — 12 ladies and 13 men. They will be a mixture of civilians and members of the disciplined forces because shooting is not a sport that discriminates. This weekend's event is like a warm-up for the championship in February," Mathenge said.
So far, 85 participants have registered for the weekend tournament albeit Mathenge expects the number to increase to over 100 by the close of business on Friday.
With regards to IDPA, NGAO have also been busy laying the groundwork for the major competitions lined up for 2021, including the recruitment of more safety officers.
Mathenge said this process is necessary to ensure the safety of competitors while on the range.
"We have more than enough safety officers but it is a continuous process to ensure that those who compete on the range are always safe. Currently, we have close to 200 of them officiating in IDPA tournaments. They basically perform the same functions in IPSC tournaments except that they are known as range officers," he explained.
