•Kenya was awarded hosting rights for International Sanctioned Championship two weeks ago
•Muriuki believes the heightened interest in the championship is evidence of Kenya's increasing stature in shooting
•An upcoming pre-shooters competition in Isiolo is the perfect curtain raiser for the IPSC Open Championship in June
The International Pistol Shooting Confederation (IPSC) Kenya may have to set a registration deadline for the IPSC Kenya Open Championship in June following the huge number of participants expressing interest.
Chairman Memba Muriuki said they have received inquiries from as far as Europe even before the formal invitation to the event has been made.
"Around 60 people have so far registered for the event and I think we might need to set a deadline. The number of competitors required for this competition is around 250 and we might surpass it going by the rate at which people are registering. One of the first confirmations was from Europe," Muriuki said.
Muriuki added that the heightened interest in the championship is evidence of Kenya's increasing stature in shooting.
He described it as a boon to the federation's efforts to grow the sport, especially among upcoming talents.
"All this goes to show Kenya has become a leading light in shooting. We want to overtake South Africa as the leading country in the sport in Africa."
"As such, we are trying to incorporate young people into the sport. Fortunately, we have received a lot of equipment from the International Sports Shooting Federation to assist us in this," Muriuki said.
He further revealed that preparations for the Open Championship, to be held in Isiolo, are in high gear, with a build-up tournament planned for May.
"The build-up tournament will be sort of a pre-shoot at Shaba Range, the same venue for the June championship. In addition, we will continue with our monthly tournaments in April. Our guys are very good and ready to go and I am sure they will do the country proud," he said.
"After June, our next focus will be on the World Championships to be held in Thailand in November. The selection of players will be a continuous process in which we will look at a number of factors. The Open Championship in June is one of the tournaments we will use to gauge the players."
IPSC has been conducting training for safety officers and Muriuki believes there is need to diversify the process as much as possible.
"We have had two (training workshops) in Nairobi, one in Mombasa and are planning others in Mombasa and Meru. We believe there are shooters all over Kenya and hence the need to diversify the training as much as possible," he said.