Tight tussle for Grand Prix awards at Bidnija

The 'sweet' smell of gunpowder prevailed at the Bidnija countryside last weekend. This was brought about by the 63 shooters at the annual Grand Prix held over three days.

There were 24 foreign participants who arrived from two clubs in Italy, England and Norway. These constituted a party of over 50 visitors to our country. The event, which requires a great expense, was made possible by the sponsorship of Bank of Valletta, Maltacom, Malta Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Youth and Arts.

Fifty clays were shot on Friday, the next 50 on Saturday and the last 25 and barrage on Sunday to make up a 125 plus a 25-clay final competition.

As is the norm in such a competition there were many special classes.

The veteran class was one of these, which brought about a tight tussle between two Italians and two home shooters. Italian Lorenzo Gasperini had the better of Emmanuel Attard with just one clay. The Italian had a tally of 110 while Attard shot 109, followed by Franco Barilozzi (108) and Joe Cutajar (107).

In the junior class it was again a competition between two Italians and two promising Maltese.

Giuseppe Cavassi shot a creditable 109 to overcome Justin Attard and Antonio Tre Re, both on 105. Kurt Cardona was just one clay behind on 104.

The only lady in the competition was Italian Romina Giansanti who forgot the masculine dominance around her and shot a MQS score of 112, placing her 11th overall.

The Maltese competitors were placed in their respective classes and the results were as follows:

Class A: 1. Horace Micallef (120); 2. Joe Attard (118); 3. Noel Attard (116).

Class B: 1. Godfrey Ciangura (112); 2. Emmanuel Attard (109); 3. Joe Cutajar (107).

Class C: 1. Carmel Abdilla (101); 2. Peter Muscat (101); 3. Pasquale Bonello (100).

The competition for the highest awards was electrifying.

Day one of the competition saw two Italians, namely Ugo Procacci and Giuseppe Andretti, go ahead shooting 48. The Maltese on their trail could only manage a 46.

The second day was a different story. Horace Micallef blasted 50 straight hits and Noel Attard and Joe Attard shot a 49 to close the gap. While Andretti fell back in the race, Procacci stood firm with another 48. He was joined by Roberto Saraceno who rose to the occasion with a 49 score.

The Maltese made such an effort that the combined scores of Micallef, Joe Attard and Noel Attard - 354 - awarded them the team event ahead of the two Italian sides with 345 and 338 respectively.

The final line-up saw the two Italians, consistent in their score, and four Maltese shooters, including Frans Pace and Noel Attard our tandem for the GSSE.

The finalists knew that with such a standard one clay could mean winning or losing and that is exactly what happened. Micallef reached the final on a fabulous 120, equalled only by Procacci.

During the barrage Micallef lost a low left target and this must have inspired the Italian to complete a straight which gave him the highest step on the podium.

Final placing: 1. Ugo Procacci (120) + 25 - 145; 2. Horace Micallef (120) + 24 - 144; 3. Joe Attard (118) + 22 - 140; 4. Noel Attard (116) + 23 - 139; 6. Roberto Saraceno (116) + 22 - 138; 2. Frans Pace (116) + 19 - 135.