THE eighth staging of the annual NCB Capital Markets Sporting Clays Open, set for this Sunday at Caymanas Golf and Country Club, will create further inroads for skeet shooting and the possibility of naming a local participant in the shotgun discipline of the Brazil 2016 Olympics.

That’s the view of Khaleel Azan, newly elected president of the Jamaica Skeet Club.

“To this end we have identified one particular shooter, Sean Barnes, and we have secured an international trap machine which can simulate the target standards of the Olympics,” Azan told reporters and sponsors yesterday at the soft launch of this year’s tournament.

“The popularity and interest in sport shooting is growing and nowhere is this more evident than the NCB Capital Markets Open where we’re again set to register record numbers of over 120 shooters,” Azan said, pointing out that Jamaica had a total of 40 entrants in the recently staged Florida Seminole Cup.

“The tournament went well and our juniors Chad Ziadie and Brandon Reid both came second in their classes.”

As for the impending shoot-off, Azan says participants can expect a more interesting course, a point which was further underscored by his fellow JSC executive Errol Ziadie.

“We are determined to make the course more enjoyable and accessible to youngsters and more inexperienced shooters, but at the same time we want the tournament to still have an international appeal,” Ziadie said.

Both Ziadie and Azan used the platform to laud NCB Capital Markets’ commitment to the sport through the sponsorship of over $2.5 million.

“We are heartened to know that NCB Capital Markets continues to see how important sport development is to the fibre of this country,” Azan said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the development of skeet shooting in Jamaica is directly related to the efforts of NCB Capital Markets.”

NCB Capital Markets Regional Manager Najah Peterkin believes the tournament is a way to not only support the interest of her clients, but expose the youth to other types of sporting activity.

“We encourage participation in all types of sports, we admire that this discipline relies heavily on balance, precision and strategy, which are all qualities that are important to the success of our business, so the synergy for us is a natural one,” she said.

“The Open also gives us a chance to engage the wider family network of our clients and interact with them in an atmosphere outside of the office. We go above and beyond to treat them to experiencing one of the world’s unique sporting activities,” said Julian Patrick, NCB Sponsorship & Promotions manager.

“We believe that activities such as this create demand for other services which fulfils our broader mandate of putting your best life forward,” he noted.

NCB Capital Markets has again partnered with some of Jamaica’s top brands, including ATL Autohaus, Tru Juice, Wisynco, Jamaica Broilers and Appliance Traders Ltd and J Wray & Nephew.