International sniper teams compete at Sharp Blade-2023

Seven sniper teams from the Chinese military and police units also reportedly took part.

Chinese People’s Armed Police Force hosted the competition, which includes 12 categories such as individual sniping, group sniping, precision sniping, moving-target sniping, and position-rotation sniping.

The competition, hosted every two years, is designed to enhance counter-terrorism capabilities of special operations forces, conduct real combat training, and strengthen international cooperation.

Sharp Blade-2023 followed up a separate event called the 2023 International Sniper Competition hosted during April this year in America. Thirty-five three-person sniper teams, including one from Australia, participated in that precision shooting competition at Fort Benning in Georgia with US Army National Guard taking the top spot.

Australian Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment have also recently attended a Sniper Pre-Selection course at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland earlier this year. Soldiers took part in day and night navigation, judging distances, fitness testing, stalking an enemy, weighted march, swimming, camouflage and concealment.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.