Zal Chitty – a champion marksman who brought laurels to country

Zal Chitty

Zal Chitty, who represented Sri Lanka in rifle shooting events at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, was born in Colombo on September 9, 1962.

He showed much promise in athletics and tennis while studying at Royal College, Colombo. He was the Under-14 Tennis Champion.

His father, Ajit Chitty and his grandfather George Chitty had both represented Royal College in shooting contents. His uncle Kumar Chitty had represented Sri Lanka at Asian and World Shooting Championships.

Under their influence, Zal turned to shooting and by 1984 had attained a fair degree of competency and won his first title in 1985.

In 1986, at the National Rifle Shooting Championships he surprised many by winning five events and setting up records in each event.

In 1987, he won the air rifle and three position events once again and in 1988, he set up a new National record in the air rifle event. In 1990, he won the three-position event while setting up a new National record and in 1991 too he won this event. For the first time he represented Sri Lanka in 1986 at the Moscow International Shooting Championships and that year he also participated in the Asian Shooting Championships held In Seoul, South Korea. He returned to Korea in 1987 for the World Shooting Championships and was placed 17th in his event. The points scored by him in these events easily surpassed the Sri Lanka record score for these events. By scoring 573 points, in this event he came up to the standard set by the International Olympic Committee to qualify for the Olympic Games and he was selected to represent Sri Lanka in the air rifle event at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.

In 1990, he was a participant at the Asian Shooting Championships held in China. At the World Shooting Championships held in Australia in 1991, he came third in the overall points table and won a Bronze Medal.

That year, he participated in three other competitions, in Zurich, the Asian Championships in Beijing and the SAF Games held in Colombo where he won a Silver Medal in the team event and a Bronze Medal in the air rifle event.

In 1987, Zal joined an International Shooting Training Centre in Texas, USA and underwent three months training under a former World champion and Olympic Gold Medallist. In 1991, he received training in Russia for a month under S. Doygal and Lanny Bassham. He has continued to participate in shooting championships and has set up a record 580 points for the air rifle event. He also won the three-position event. (C.D)